Inspector Clouseau with Gonzo.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a bungling French police detective and the protagonist of the 1963 film The Pink Panther and its subsequent sequels. The character was originally portrayed by Peter Sellers, and appeared in the cold opening for episode 219 of The Muppet Show as a target for Gonzo's knife practice. His trademark, apart from a general obliviousness to the havoc he wreaks, is his peculiar French accent, often mispronouncing vowels.
Four other Muppet Show guests have played Inspector Clouseau at various times. Alan Arkin starred in the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau, Rich Little dubbed lines for a younger version of the character in Trail of the Pink Panther, Roger Moore played a version of Clouseau (after plastic surgery) in Curse of the Pink Panther, and Steve Martin played the latest incarnation of Inspector Clouseau in the 2006 film The Pink Panther and its 2008 sequel. Additionally, Peter Ustinov was originally cast in the part, but due to scheduling conflicts, the part went to Sellers.[1]
References[]
- Hercules Parrot, a proposed Sesame Street character from the 1990s, was a parrot detective spoofing Hercule Poirot. However, he had Clouseau's exaggerated accent and unique vowel tendencies, pronouncing room as "rhume," as well as additional variations (pronouncing butler as "bewtler"). Bystanders occasionally repeat his odd phrasings in confusion (another movie gag).
- Inspector Raccoonseau in The Furchester Hotel episode "Mystery Weekend" spoofs Clouseau in name and appearance (hat and moustache), although his voice is a Columbo impression.
- Ty Burrell described the basis of Jean Pierre Napoleon in the presskit for Muppets Most Wanted. He said director James Bobin described the part as "sort of an amalgam of all the French police inspectors that have ever existed... We went back to the '60s films, with Clouseau or Poirot -- it's sort of a mash-up of all of them."