Want to know the best Peter Sellers movies? How about the worst Peter Sellers movies? Curious about Peter Sellers’s box office grosses or which Peter Sellers movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Peter Sellers movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
Peter Sellers (1925-1980) was an English 3-time Oscar® nominated film actor, comedian and singer. Sellers was known throughout the world for his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. His IMDb page shows 90 acting credits from 1950 to 1982. This page will rank 48 Peter Sellers movies. Movies will be ranked from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, shorts, cameos and movies that were not released in theaters in North America were not included in the rankings.
Drivel part of the page: (1) This Peter Sellers page comes from a request by Brando90, Wayne S. & Flora. (2) I have great memories of seeing 1976’s The Pink Panther Strikes Back in theaters with my father….I remembering laughing so hard my stomach hurt. (3) Sadly while researching this page I saw that Burt Kwouk, who played Cato Fong in the Pink Panther movies, just passed away a few days ago (May 24th, 2016)….RIP Cato. (4) Since many of Peter Sellers’ movies were made in England and only received limited release in North America….we had to come up with his box office grosses in a different way in over half of his movies. Knowing that none of Sellers’ England movies hit the $1 million box office rental mark we knew the ceiling for his box office grosses. So using reverse engineering and international box office numbers from BoxOfficeStory.com we created an equation to come up with an estimated North American box office gross. So if you see “trivia” in the Box Office Rank By Year column in the following table please know that is our “best guess”. If you see an actually ranking, please know we feel very confident in our box office gross number.
Peter Sellers Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
Year
Movie (Year)
Rating
S
Year Movie (Year) Rating S
1964
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Actor Nom
1962
Lolita (1962)
1964
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
1963
The Pink Panther (1963)
1976
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
1976
Murder by Death (1976)
1975
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
1978
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
1979
Being There (1979)
AA Best Actor Nom
1965
What's New Pussycat (1965)
1959
The Mouse That Roared (1959)
1967
Casino Royale (1967)
1958
Tom Thumb (1958)
1968
The Party (1968)
1955
The Ladykillers (1955)
1964
The World of Henry Orient (1964)
1970
There's a Girl in My Soup (1970)
1966
After The Fox (1966)
1959
I'm All Right Jack (1959)
1960
Two Way Stretch (1960)
1970
Hoffman (1970)
1966
The Wrong Box (1966)
1973
The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973)
1962
Only Two Can Play (1962)
1963
Heavens Above! (1963)
1963
The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)
1961
Mr. Topaze (1961)
1960
Never Let Go (1960)
1957
The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
1957
Your Past Is Showing (1957)
1969
The Magic Christian (1969)
1962
Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)
1979
The Prisoner of Zenda (1979)
1962
Trial and Error (1962)
1972
Where Does It Hurt? (1972)
1968
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968)
1959
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959)
1960
The Battle of the Sexes (1960)
1960
The Millionairess (1960)
1972
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972)
1967
Woman Times Seven (1967)
1980
The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980)
1973
The Blockhouse (1973)
1967
The Bobo (1967)
1982
Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
1974
Soft Beds Hard Battles (1974)
1958
Up The Creek (1958)
1975
The Great McGonagall (1975)
1973
Ghost In The Noonday Sun (1973)
Peter Sellers Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Peter Sellers movies by co-stars of his movies
- Sort Peter Sellers movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Peter Sellers movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Peter Sellers movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Peter Sellers movie received.
- Sort Peter Sellers movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | Movie (Year) | UMR Co-Star Links | Actual B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) | Adj. B.O. Worldwide (mil) | B.O. Rank by Year | Review | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score | S |
| 1 | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) AA Best Picture Nom AA Best Actor Nom |
George C. Scott & Directed by Stanley Kubrick |
14.30 | 163.8 | 163.80 | 11 | 94 | 04 / 00 | 99.0 | |
| 2 | Lolita (1962) | James Mason & Directed by Stanley Kubrick |
12.90 | 184.8 | 184.80 | 14 | 87 | 01 / 00 | 98.0 | |
| 2 | A Shot in the Dark (1964) | Elke Somner & George Sanders |
19.30 | 221.1 | 221.10 | 5 | 80 | 00 / 00 | 97.5 | |
| 4 | The Pink Panther (1963) | David Niven & Robert Wagner |
16.80 | 210.4 | 210.40 | 12 | 76 | 01 / 00 | 96.7 | |
| 3 | The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) | Lesley-Anne Down & Directed by Blake Edwards |
60.30 | 304.9 | 304.90 | 8 | 75 | 01 / 00 | 96.6 | |
| 4 | Murder by Death (1976) | Alec Guinness & David Niven |
57.90 | 292.9 | 292.90 | 9 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.4 | |
| 5 | The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) | Christopher Plummer | 41.80 | 220.0 | 220.00 | 13 | 75 | 00 / 00 | 96.4 | |
| 7 | Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) | Herbert Lom & Burt Kwouk |
56.50 | 260.1 | 260.10 | 8 | 70 | 00 / 00 | 95.1 | |
| 9 | Being There (1979) AA Best Actor Nom |
Shirley MacLaine & Melvyn Douglas |
29.00 | 124.5 | 124.50 | 32 | 88 | 02 / 01 | 94.3 | |
| 10 | What's New Pussycat (1965) | Peter O'Toole & Woody Allen |
22.80 | 241.4 | 241.40 | 8 | 46 | 01 / 00 | 87.9 | |
| 12 | The Mouse That Roared (1959) | Jean Seberg | 5.70 | 102.7 | 102.70 | 43 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 86.5 | |
| 13 | Casino Royale (1967) | Woody Allen & David Niven |
22.40 | 199.9 | 369.20 | 13 | 42 | 01 / 00 | 86.3 | |
| 12 | Tom Thumb (1958) | Russ Tamblyn & Terry-Thomas |
5.70 | 102.7 | 102.70 | 45 | 70 | 01 / 01 | 85.8 | |
| 14 | The Party (1968) | Claudine Longet | 8.30 | 68.2 | 68.20 | 47 | 79 | 00 / 00 | 83.8 | |
| 15 | The Ladykillers (1955) | Alec Guinness & Herbert Lom |
2.20 | 45.9 | 45.90 | 129 | 83 | 01 / 00 | 82.7 | |
| 16 | The World of Henry Orient (1964) | Directed by George Roy Hill | 5.30 | 60.6 | 60.60 | 54 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 78.0 | |
| 18 | There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) | Goldie Hawn | 15.50 | 107.5 | 107.50 | 26 | 53 | 00 / 00 | 74.9 | |
| 19 | After The Fox (1966) | Britt Ekland & Blake Edwards |
5.70 | 56.3 | 56.30 | 50 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 72.1 | |
| 17 | I'm All Right Jack (1959) | Terry-Thomas & Richard Attenborough |
1.00 | 18.1 | 18.10 | 145 | 78 | 00 / 00 | 72.0 | |
| 20 | Two Way Stretch (1960) | David Lodge & Lionel Jeffries |
1.50 | 24.0 | 24.00 | 113 | 71 | 00 / 00 | 64.9 | |
| 21 | Hoffman (1970) | Sinéad Cusack | 1.90 | 13.2 | 13.20 | 109 | 73 | 00 / 00 | 63.1 | |
| 22 | The Wrong Box (1966) | Michael Caine | 0.90 | 8.7 | 8.70 | 127 | 74 | 00 / 00 | 62.4 | |
| 23 | The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973) | Donna Mullane | 1.50 | 8.9 | 8.90 | 140 | 72 | 00 / 00 | 59.3 | |
| 24 | Only Two Can Play (1962) | Richard Attenborough | 1.10 | 15.9 | 15.90 | 118 | 68 | 00 / 00 | 56.0 | |
| 25 | Heavens Above! (1963) | Cecil Parker | 0.60 | 8.1 | 8.10 | 124 | 69 | 00 / 00 | 54.6 | |
| 27 | The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963) | Lionel Jeffries | 1.40 | 17.2 | 17.20 | 113 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 53.1 | |
| 26 | Mr. Topaze (1961) | Nadia Gray & Herbert Lom |
0.90 | 13.3 | 13.30 | 123 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 52.8 | |
| 29 | Never Let Go (1960) | Richard Todd | 1.80 | 27.5 | 27.50 | 107 | 62 | 00 / 00 | 52.7 | |
| 28 | The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) | Margaret Rutherford | 0.40 | 8.6 | 8.60 | 191 | 67 | 00 / 00 | 50.9 | |
| 30 | Your Past Is Showing (1957) | Terry-Thomas | 0.70 | 12.7 | 12.70 | 181 | 66 | 00 / 00 | 50.1 | |
| 31 | The Magic Christian (1969) | Ringo Starr | 2.00 | 15.2 | 15.20 | 98 | 63 | 00 / 00 | 46.9 | |
| 32 | Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) | Cyril Cusack | 1.80 | 25.9 | 25.90 | 104 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 41.7 | |
| 33 | The Prisoner of Zenda (1979) | Elke Somner & Lionel Jeffries |
12.90 | 55.3 | 55.30 | 58 | 48 | 00 / 00 | 41.1 | |
| 33 | Trial and Error (1962) | Richard Attenborough | 1.00 | 14.0 | 14.00 | 123 | 60 | 00 / 00 | 38.5 | |
| 34 | Where Does It Hurt? (1972) | Jo Ann Pflug | 1.40 | 8.6 | 8.60 | 130 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 37.0 | |
| 37 | I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968) | Leigh Taylor-Young & Jo Van Fleet |
3.10 | 25.9 | 25.90 | 89 | 55 | 00 / 00 | 36.9 | |
| 35 | Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959) | Terry-Thomas | 0.40 | 6.9 | 6.90 | 167 | 61 | 00 / 00 | 36.8 | |
| 38 | The Battle of the Sexes (1960) | Robert Morley & Donald Pleasance |
0.70 | 10.9 | 10.90 | 136 | 59 | 00 / 00 | 33.8 | |
| 41 | The Millionairess (1960) | Sophia Loren | 2.90 | 44.6 | 44.60 | 81 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 32.2 | |
| 39 | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972) | Ralph Richardson | 1.90 | 11.8 | 11.80 | 124 | 57 | 00 / 00 | 31.5 | |
| 40 | Woman Times Seven (1967) | Shirley MacLaine & Michael Caine |
2.20 | 20.0 | 20.00 | 91 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 30.4 | |
| 44 | The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980) | Helen Mirren | 11.60 | 48.2 | 48.20 | 66 | 44 | 00 / 00 | 27.8 | |
| 42 | The Blockhouse (1973) | Charles Aznavour | 1.50 | 8.8 | 8.80 | 141 | 56 | 00 / 00 | 27.8 | |
| 43 | The Bobo (1967) | Britt Ekland | 1.50 | 13.6 | 13.60 | 117 | 54 | 00 / 00 | 26.8 | |
| 45 | Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) | David Niven | 9.10 | 33.2 | 33.20 | 65 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 22.0 | |
| 46 | Soft Beds Hard Battles (1974) | Curd Jürgens & Lila Kedrova |
1.30 | 7.3 | 7.30 | 128 | 47 | 00 / 00 | 11.8 | |
| 47 | Up The Creek (1958) | David Tomlinson & Lionel Jeffries |
0.60 | 10.3 | 10.30 | 161 | 45 | 00 / 00 | 11.1 | |
| 48 | The Great McGonagall (1975) | Spike Milligan | 1.00 | 5.0 | 5.00 | 138 | 46 | 00 / 00 | 10.6 | |
| 49 | Ghost In The Noonday Sun (1973) | Peter Boyle | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.10 | 193 | 42 | 00 / 00 | 5.4 |
Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Peter Sellers Table
- Ten Peter Sellers movie crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 20.83% of his movies listed. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) was his biggest box office hit.
- An average Peter Sellers movie grosses $57.50 million in adjusted box office gross.
- Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter. 31 of Peter Sellers’s movies are rated as good movies…or 64.58% of his movies. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is his highest rated movie while Casino Royale (1966) is his lowest rated movie.
- Eight Peter Sellers movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 16.66% of his movies.
- One Peter Sellers movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 2.08% of his movies.
- An good Ultimate Movie Ranking (UMR) Score is 40.00. 16 Peter Sellers movie scored higher that average….or 33.33% of his movies. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) got the the highest UMR Score while The Great McGonagall (1975) got the lowest UMR Score.
Possibly Interesting Facts About Peter Sellers
- Richard Henry Sellers was born in England in 1925. His parents called him Peter after his elder stillborn brother.
2. Peter Sellers was best known for his portrayal of the hapless, accident-prone Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther movies. His Pink Panther movies grossed almost $1 billion in adjusted North American dollars.
3. Peter Sellers has two performances in Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time: 67th is his role as Clousaeau in the Pink Panther movies and 75th is his role as Dr. Stranglove in 1964’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
4. Peter Sellers was nominated for 3 Oscars®. He was nominated for Best Actor for 1964’s Dr. Strangelove and 1979’s Being There. His 3rd Oscar nomination was for Best Short Subject, Live Action Shorts for 1959’s The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film.
5. Peter Sellers was nominated for 5 Golden Globes®: 1962’s Lolita, 1963’s The Pink Panther, 1975’s The Return of the Pink Panther, 1976’s The Pink Panther Strikes Back and 1979’s Being There. He won the Golden Globe® for Being There.
6. Peter Sellers was the first male to appear on the cover of Playboy Magazine, in April 1964
7. Peter Sellers starred in 6 Blake Edwards movies and co-starred with Herbert Lom (Chief Inspector Dreyfuss) in 6 movies.
8. Peter Sellers was married four times. He had three children. He married his second wife, actress Britt Ekland, after only knowing her for 10 days. His third wife, Miranda Quarry, is know The Countess of Stockton
9. Peter Sellers and music legends: Became friends with the group The Beatles, and visited them at Abbey Road Studios. Was given a tape of rough mixes from the “White Album”. He was one of the favorite actors of Elvis Presley who always had Sellers’ Pink Panther films with him on the airplane while he was on tour.
10. Check out Peter Sellers‘s career compared to current and classic actors. Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.
If you do a comment….please ignore the email address and website section.
I couldn’t believe back in 1980 the New York Daily News gave 4 stars to The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, I thought it was one of the worst films I had seen in my lifetime up till then. He had just passed away too.
HeyDan….they were probably being nice to him. I am sure they did not want to speak ill of the dead. If you sort my critic and audience it comes in as his third worst movie…only the Pink Panther rip off movie and Casino Royal rated worse.
Hi Bruce,
I’ve seen only 3 films on this list. But it must be said that Peter Sellers was never a star in France. One can even say that it was superbly ignored by the French public. Except Pink Panther strikes again, Casino Royale and What’s New Pussycat, there was no real success in France. And yet, these three films were not big successes.
Considering Casino Royale is one of the films well known in France, this is not a good sign. Worst Bond film ever. LOL!
Good point Flora….Casino Royale is horrible…without a doubt.
Hey Laurent….wow…I find that very surprising…. I figured the way the French love Jerry Lewis….that they would have loved Sellers even more. I can’t imagine many countries joining France in their boycott of the Pink Panther movies….lol. Thanks for your tally count and sharing your knowledge of French cinema….both are greatly appreciated.
I think I am too young to really appreciate him, but I remember my uncles talking about the Pink Panther movies all the time. Looking at the box office numbers on the Pink Panther movies is pretty impressive. It looks like they kept getting bigger and bigger versus smaller like most sequels back then. Congratulations are doing so many pages lately.
I’ve never let my age get in the way of appreciating people’s work. As you can see if you look up my comments on this site, I am most familiar with people who either died before I was born, died when I was a child, a member of a Hollywood dynasty like the Barrymores, or are old enough to be my parents.
My favourite actor of all time was born in 1916 – that would be My darling Greg.
I think that is why Cogerson is surprised I’m a fan of Rory Cochrane – a mere 4 years older than I am.
Hey Flora…my three favorites were born in 1904 (Cary Grant), 1933 (Michael Caine) and Peter Sellers (1955). ….so I am in the same boat as you. I am surprised about you liking Rory Cochrane…not only because of the age factor….but I am not really aware of who he is…..I have yet to do a IMDb search on him to figure out who he is…I figured I would have stumbled across him after your Cochrane request. That being said…I am sure that when I figure out who he is…I will have seen many of his movies already. Thanks for the comment.
Rory Cochrane played Tim “Speed” Speedle on the first two seasons of CSI: Miami. He was living with Renee Z. when they made dazed and Confused together. I think they were still a couple when they made love and a 45 together which I just saw for the first time. I wrote a review on letterboxd about it.
I think I have seen about 27 of his credits.
I finally looked Mr. Cochrane up on IMDb. So now I know who he is. Seems like his biggest successes have been on television. Interesting about he and Renee Z. I will check out your Letterboxd review.
Thanks Helakoski…..I think lots of people talked about Sellers and the Pink Panther movies. You are right the Pink Panther movies of the 1970s outgrossed the Pink Panther movies of the 1960s. I am sure that is why Blake Edwards was always trying to get Sellers to make more and more Panther movies. Thanks for the kind words and the comments on this page and other pages.
Hi
Sellers early death was such a tragic loss. He was an incredible performer, especially after Being There, you felt that his acting was really going to take off. Although best known for Pink Panther, some of his early British films are fantastic and definitely worth seeking out.
Heavens Above is about a naive minister who tries to help everyone and people take advantage of him. Two Way Stretch is about a gang of crooks in prison, who sneak out, perform a crime and then sneak back in again. I’m Alright Jack, he’s a trade unionist involved in a strike.
And of course, The Ladykillers, packed with wonderful character actors like Alec Guiness.
The Tom Hanks remake wasn’t bad but couldn’t hold a candle to the original.
Just before he died, he gave an interview where he was asked if he had many close personal friends, he stopped for a minute as if he had an epiphany and admitted that he didn’t really have any close personal friends in Hollywood. It was quite a revelation and all the more sadder when he actually died within a few months.
Thanks for your page.
Hey Chris.
1. Yes his early death was a tragic loss….I can easily imagine him picking up a supporting role in early 1990s and the Academy finally giving him his Oscar.
2. I have only seen one of his entire collection of British films…that being The Ladykillers.
3. I will have to check out Heavens Above!….though I do admit…I had never even heard of it before writing this page.
4. I had heard of Two Way Stretch and I’m Alright Jack…just have not been able to find them to watch them.
5. I actually saw Hanks’ Ladykillers first…so when I saw Sellers’ Ladykillers I was not as impressed as I would have been if I had seen them in the right order
6. That is sad that he did not have any close friends…I would have assumed that he and Lom and possibly Terry-Thomas would have been close.
As always thanks for your awesome comment.
i like this
Thank you Anonymous…glad you liked this.