Peter Sellers interviewed by Alan Whicker, 1979

Peter Sellers talks about living in California on "Whicker's World" hosted by Alan Whicker. This interview was part of the episode "Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close", on Britons living in Los Angeles. The interview was conducted in 1979, and the episode aired in May 1980.

[@garysiddons2157]

Peter has often been portrayed as a monstrous mummy's boy by many. He had a troubled private life for sure but every interview I've seen, he comes across as likeable and charming. I wandered if he suffered with Bipolar or something similar. He was an amazing talent for sure.

[@dennisdivine7448]

I agree 100%. Sellars was no doubt a very troubled man, but he gave the best interviews. Very candid, very lucid; not afraid to self-critique, and no apparent ego.

[@jeffstone2136]

He had severe mental issues....autistic, to some degree. Aspergers, certainly. This can grant you genius, but also burden you with behavioural problems. (Spike Milligan was similar - brilliant, but quite mad) This was not helped by Sellers' near-fatal heart attack in 1964, when his brain was starved of oxygen for many minutes. It is believed this greatly worsened his psychological issues. However, people who say in books that he was a non-stop bastard (you know who I mean) are talking complete bollocks.

[@avalond1193]

Alot people including some Dr. Seems to agree he suffered from bipolar

[@grandcosmo]

The difference is that on the interviews he is performing.

[@teecee1567]

I wonder if anyone else sees this.... the parallels of Sellers and Robin Williams.

[@yiabwstetienne7474]

Peter Sellers was a comedic genius. Sad how quickly he has been forgotten, most people have no idea what we lost when he died.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

Forgotten?

[@Woozlewuzzleable]

His movies will live on forever.

[@RatelHBadger]

​@@Woozlewuzzleable until they are rebooted by Hollywoke

[@oscarwilde5473]

@@Ingens_Scherz ... being old, does this to you ... and guess how I know? Twenty-somethings, looking at you like you're nuts, proclaiming, Peter Sellers was who?" ... 🤗 ...

[@justicegusting2476]

Dr. Strangelove holds the world hostage so as to etch his memory in the collective consciousness of all who have seen it.

[@brocktoon8]

I want to meet Peter Sellers in Heaven.

[@vincelong3132]

It's a narrow path there

[@shahree100]

The Indian restaurant gag- love it. Most Indians do. RIP Peter.

[@bobstigler]

Peter Sellers in The Party

[@thomaschacko6320]

Gifted, troubled man. Here he is perfectly charming! As someone of Indian heritage, I love his Indian accent. I saw “The Party” in India - full house, and they laughed uproariously! He did a marvellous cameo - as an Indian doctor - in the last Hope & Crosby comedy, “Road To Hong Kong.”

[@elenajon001]

I got to meet him briefly in Cyprus, he was making a movie and I was living there making a living renting out caravans and finished up renting and setting up caravans to the movie company wherever they were filming that day, Peter had requested a shade awning , I complied and stepped inside the caravan and we exchanged a few pleasantries, nice man, the year was 1973 and the movie was " A ghost in the noonday sun" it was never released.

[@ericthatsme]

They did however release a documentary on the making of that troubled film-it’s very good!

[@elenajon001]

Spike Milligan also Peter Boyle were there at that same time, Spike filmed a commercial there along with Peter, all of those guys used to hang out at a restauirant| bar in Kyrenia Harbor

[@punzai72]

I dropped my panda teddy down the harbour wall in Kyrenia harbour and Spike Milligan rescued it for me and handed it back to me. I think I would’ve been about 2 years old. My mum said he was making a pirate film with Peter Sellers at the time. I only found a out a few years ago that it was A Ghost in the Noonday Sun.

[@CompoundNihilist]

When he feigns the heart attack at the end as a joke, it's both hilarious and chilling given that's what plagued him. Still, he performs it as only a master comedian could.

[@user-ww9yw4zi8m]

I think he knew he could drop at any time :o

[@vantheman1238]

I love Peter Sellers. My father loved him and his humour has filled my life for over fifty years. Nobody can touch him. Watch the Michael Parkinson interview from 1974 it is Sellers at his finest. You get Richard 111, Alec Guinness, George Formby and Peter Lorre.

[@degsbabe]

Goodness me , he died quite soon after having this interview. It looks beautiful where he was staying. And the stories about people dropping dead are quite Ironic. Poor man. Wonder if he realised the true value of living ..even as it slipped away from him.

[@Yeldarb4]

A genius. Loved the clip but what strikes me the most is how Peter Sellers looks at least 15 years older than he was at the time. It's sad that the man suffered from health issues. What great performances we missed if he had only lived to an old age.

[@patgallagher9028]

When we where kids used to love Alan whicker showed you places you’d never see

[@robertsykes6309]

I have never seen this before, but boy, did that first 40 seconds really hit home for this Yorkshire born 65 year old currently living in Australia!

[@gavinreid8937]

During filming, Peter stumbled down stairs & was constantly unsteady on his feet, Alan wondered if they were filmong his obituary, & it practically was his last interview.

[@sianwarwick633]

Neat little snippet - I thought at first he was in Spain. Until he started complaining about the ads, the food, the clothes etc. Perfectly true

[@geekay1349]

the Great Peter Sellers once said: “I’m a classic example of all humorists - only funny when I’m working.”

[@telstar4772]

He was only 53 in this interview, looks much older.

[@avalond1193]

Heavy drugs and alcohol with parties drained him as well as depression

[@Gieszkanne]

Maybe its just because of the grey hair. I dont think he looks older. Some people get grey hair with 30 and this has nothing to do with drugs or alcohol.

[@DarkArynLand]

@@Gieszkanne true, in the movies he had dye and makeup that made him look younger.

[@bcrunch4232]

Huh??

[@neiltaylor6645]

Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards are in heaven together have a whale of a time

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

There’s a blue plaque above a Chinese takeaway in Southsea saying ‘Peter Sellers was Born Here’… and yet in this interview he says he was born in Yorkshire!

[@misterpetersellers]

Peter was born in Southsea, his father was born in Yorkshire ❤

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

@@misterpetersellers thanks for the info!

[@gkelly3566]

He was right about dying in England

[@StuartHanson-fo7iw]

I adore Peter sellers.love his patriotism and piss on anyone who hated him because he was sick,not bad,all the stuff he complaining about USA Cali culture is now sadly the same here,Americans in Cali are just too out there ,it must be so frustrating for right minded folk from Texas or anywhere away from the crazy 3 or 4 states that push this crazy woke agenda,we ain’t like that here,he liked real people which u could say is a surprise given how crazy and out there his work was,he must have wanted normality away from work rip🇬🇧👍🇺🇸

[@margaretcronin4073]

He was not born in Yorkshire, but Portsmouth, 273 miles away.

[@leespiderpod]

James Corden should’ve taken Peter’s advice on not thinking he was a Hollywood god

[@sianwarwick633]

Corden was always a bit of a put-on

[@redeyedhobbit]

100% correct 👍👍👍👏👏👏

[@justwhous1]

James Corden is not in the same league as Peter Sellers. He doesn't have the talent.

[@burzenheim]

Inspector is a real master of disguise... His best disguise since Guy Gadbois.

[@SilverSurfer5150]

A classic! 😂😂

[@DenkyManner]

I love how he goes into the character just at the second he senses he was being a bit too normal and serious.

[@tomkent4656]

The film "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" showed the real man!

[@DavidMFChapman]

Peter Sellers always seems to be playing a part. What was he really like?

[@thelammacus]

He actually described himself as "Not a nice man". He went through 3 (I think) marriages before his time was up. He also once said that he had so many cars because cars don't judge (like women do). I think he just genuinely felt more comfortable being anyone but himself. Very sad, but a brilliant man in his own way

[@richardgiallo9206]

@@thelammacus He also said he did not have his own personality just his acting parts and he said he was more like Chance the Gardener in the film Being There

[@stephenreeds3632]

Aren't we all? That's how he made his money.

[@sianwarwick633]

Worth reading his biography

[@rampageclover9788]

3:50 that is so fucking eerie.....

[@biffteutsch3402]

Being There👍

[@joannefalkinder393]

A good looking Yorkshire genius 🇬🇧

[@joker_3517]

Born in Portsmouth !

[@aleksandrakettner905]

❤❤❤

[@Da1Dez]

0:24 I thought he was born in Portsmouth?

[@shame69]

Yes, he was. But he was saying very strange stuff at this time. When he was interviewed by 'Rolling Stone' magazine he claimed that Spike Milligan had committed suicide.

[@fergusdonaghy3124]

@@shame69 really ?

[@fergusdonaghy3124]

Southsea

[@thewomble1509]

@@fergusdonaghy3124 I think his dad was a Yorkshireman.

[@zakmartin]

He died of a heart attack two months after this interview aired.

[@boomerrocksUSA]

The can of "Tab" - the first diet soda

[@richardbrown1189]

Why did he say he was born in Yorkshire? His father's family came from Yorkshire. He was born in Portsmouth.

[@zakmartin]

Because he was as mad as a lamp post.

[@oneblueorange]

Good old Peter Sellers.....God rest his soul.

[@MarthaMcCrum]

He reminds me of Robin Williams slipping into characters suddenly.

[@alice86142]

Isn't there more to this interview?

[@misterpetersellers]

Yes there is! Working on uploading more soon❤

[@jeffstone2136]

Half the time, it seems like Sellers is impersonating Whicker using a tape, and in effect talking to himself.

[@recklessrocker1096]

Where is he at in this interview?

[@misterpetersellers]

He's in Beverly Hills, California 🤍

[@rodneyhuffton9155]

What country was this filmed in?

[@dcanmore]

Los Angeles USA

[@jakcarn4184]

I still go around saying i am inspector Jacque cluseo of the surete etc etc

[@harpman1876]

Peter wouldn't recognize London today. It's gone, destroyed.

[@Enr227]

I agree about jogging 100%

[@jameshudson169]

he talks 'bout us like we circus animals. we speak english, peter. we can understand what you're saying!

[@peabody3000]

i have a lot of trouble squaring this affable peter sellers with the psychotic monster he was portrayed as in that made for cable docudrama several years back

[@stuartliddle7228]

Born in Yorkshire... Meks him a Yorkshireman. He sounds a bit Yorkshire in his laconic delivery right here.

[@sirrichardpumpaloaf8154]

And little did he know that the following year he would die in London.

[@teecee1567]

How ironic he should joke about people dropping dead through heart failure.

[@GregGNP]

Exactly because little did he know, a year later this is how he would pass.

[@maheshwarbanuk4389]

1.52, ...there is not one good Indian restaurant here... a typical accent! 🤣... I wonder how he was able to do it!

[@peteredwards7760]

One year later Peter died.

[@MrDavey2010]

Sellers was a very odd man. I knew the producer of Casino Royale in which he starred & Mr Dark recounted terrible stories of Sellers. Totally self absorbed & cared for nobody but himself. A troubled soul.

[@CompoundNihilist]

You could say the same of most performers on a film.

[@thewomble1509]

@@CompoundNihilist Yes but Sellers made being difficult into an art form. He would stop filming if his clairvoyant told him the stars weren't aligned correctly or that the colours in his house were out of cosmic balance, all kinds of weird shit that cost film makers millions.

[@CompoundNihilist]

@@thewomble1509 The same could be said of Marlon Brando. His behavior on "Dr. Moreau" is legend and Kilmer even surpassed that bad behavior. Bette Davis destructed a few movies in her time. It's endemic.

[@thewomble1509]

@@CompoundNihilist It certainly seems commonplace among creative types.......

[@stevenmcnicoll5060]

It’s fear. Performers spend their lives at the mercy of others. Every rejection is a rejection of not just their ability but their very self. That fear never leaves and for some, when they do achieve autonomy, they try to control their destiny and not be exploited. Some are more successful in achieving this and some are too scarred to assert themselves in a mature and thoughtful way and so resort to “bad behaviour”. It all stems from terror. Look at the work though. I know someone who worked on one of Sellers’ last jobs in Ireland in 1980. Peter was odd my friend said but it was a privilege to share the screen with him . Sellers’ pain and difficulties were a torture to his loved ones. His work will be his testament. The talent he had as an actor and comedian was enormous. His talent for living life in this world was less so.

[@JamesTilsley1]

And of course Peter Sellers would die in England as he predicted.

[@theedrstrangelove]

Boy, he dropped the heart attack thing about the joggers. He died from one less than a year from this.

[@MrJaikCampbell]

From wikipedia: "On 21 July 1980 Sellers arrived in London from Geneva. He checked into the Dorchester hotel, before visiting Golders Green Crematorium for the first time to see the location of his parents' ashes. He had plans to attend a reunion dinner with his Goon Show partners Milligan and Secombe, scheduled for the evening of 22 July. On the day of the dinner, Sellers took lunch in his hotel suite and shortly afterwards collapsed from a heart attack. He was taken to the Middlesex Hospital, London, and died just after midnight on 24 July 1980, aged 54." very sad. At least he wasn't jogging on a hard surface, i suppose.

[@thewomble1509]

@@MrJaikCampbell At the time , Spike Milligan said that he wasn't surprised that Sellers died from coronary problems as he hated exercise and would even wear slip on shoes rather than bend down to tie lace ups. He also had a constant battle against his weight and went on several crash diets, only to put weight on again when he stopped the dieting. A comic genius and a huge talent but, like so many gifted, artistic people, also hugely troubled.

[@t.b.g.504]

And that line about joggers on Malibu Beach likely inspired a scene and plot element in Blake Edwards' S.O.B (1981).

[@DarkArynLand]

@@thewomble1509 let's take into account that Peter's son died in the same way at 52 years old, evidently there was a genetic problem behind it.