Mr. Strangelove

September 30, 2002
Sellers was undoubtedly one of the 20th century's funniest people. From his first star-making turns in Lolita
and Dr. Strangelove
(in which he played three different characters), to the bumbling but strangely dignified Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther
movies, Sellers never failed to send audiences rolling in the aisles. But as Sikov shows in this hip, unblinking biography, there was a downside to his genius. Sellers abused drugs, beat his wives and neglected his children. On set, he was a nightmare prima donna, insisting on special treatment and embroiling himself in ridiculous feuds with costars and directors. Moreover, his compulsive need to do impressions verged at times on multiple personality disorder (his first wife said, "It's like being married to the United Nations"). Sikov shows that no one, not even his friends, really knew Sellers. The actor was, in Sikov's estimation, a comic tabula rasa on which he could inscribe any character or personality. This mutability gave Sellers his first break, as he bluffed his way onto radio by impersonating a BBC star on the telephone. He later became the star of the hugely influential radio program The Goon Show, whose eccentric, Dadaist humor predated Monty Python by a decade. An avid party-goer (jet-setting friends included Roman Polanski and the Beatles), Sellers enjoyed a go-go lifestyle finally that caught up with him in 1980, when he suffered a massive heart attack. Sikov, whose previous work includes a Billy Wilder biography, treats Sellers with just the right mix of awe, irritation and sympathy, giving readers a clear-headed, respectful tribute to a disturbed genius. Agent, Edward Hibbert.

October 1, 2002
Sikov, a film critic, biographer, and academic, methodically and exhaustively surveys the life and oeuvre of one of cinema's comedic geniuses, Peter Sellers (1925-80). Juxtaposed with the author's trenchant analysis is a cornucopia of interviews with Sellers's ex-wives, children, friends, intimates, and fellow artists. As Sikov chronologically wends his way through the Sellers canon, priceless stories, anecdotes, and bon mots grace every page. His dysfunctional relationship with his mother (and, subsequently, his four wives) features prominently, as do his World War II Royal Air Force experience, groundbreaking work and success with the influential BBC Radio show The Goon Show, and such celluloid jewels as The Ladykillers, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, "The Pink Panther" series, and Being There. Sikov's work supercedes Peter Evans's Peter Sellers: The Mask Behind the Mask (1968) and Alexander Walker's Peter Sellers: The Authorized Biography (1981) to become, along with Roger Lewis's excellent The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (1997), the new standard. Enthusiastically endorsed for all libraries. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2002
Calling Peter Sellers eccentric is like calling his character Inspector Clouseau bumbling: accurate as far as it goes but only hinting at the enormity of the designee's outrageousness. His friend Spike Milligan called him "the most complex simpleton in the world," and his bizarre nature challenges biographers. A comic genius and a highly regarded actor, a drug abuser and a womanizer, he was capable of cruelty to those closest to him. Sikov traces his rise to international fame, from his post-World War II beginnings in British radio and films to his triumphs in such darkly comic performances as the titular Dr. Strangelove and Humbert Humbert in " Lolita." His best-known creation remains Clouseau, but his supreme achievement and last great role was the tabula rasa gardener Chance in " Being There." Sikov devotes much of his text to amateur psychology, which with the near-certifiable Sellers seems almost inevitable, but is stronger on the career than on the man. That, given that Sikov's many interview subjects show that they could never grasp Sellers either, is understandable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)