Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

The Dead Comedian The ‘Pink Panther’ Star Said Was Haunting Him

‘He follows me around everywhere,’ the ‘Pink Panther’ star once told his biographer

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

For many years, Peter Sellers told people that someone from the great beyond had been communicating with him and giving him career advice. At some point later in life, the Pink Panther star was introduced to the famous British medium Estelle Roberts, who, unaware of his supposed contact with the dead, informed him that the spirit of a comedian named Dan Leno was present at one of their meetings. Leno was among the most revered music hall comics of his time, but his career was cut short after suffering a mental breakdown in his early 40s. He died in 1904, 21 years before Sellers was born.

From the moment Roberts brought up Leno, Sellers was firmly convinced that it was the long-deceased comedian who had been in touch with him the whole time. “He follows me around everywhere,” Sellers once told his biographer, Peter Evans. “I felt his help, especially with my timing, before I knew who it was. He has been great for me. I knew it had to be someone in the business because his knowledge was so perfect. He has given me some wonderful advice.”

Not long after Evans’s biography of Sellers, The Mask Behind the Mask, was published in 1968, Sellers visited the author in London. Evans made the mistake of telling Sellers that Leno’s old house was close by, and Sellers insisted on going there immediately. When they arrived, Sellers pushed past the woman who answered the door without explanation and called out, “Dan. It’s me, Pete.” He then rushed from room to room, opening doors and yelling, “I know you’re here. Talk to me, Dan.”

There was at least one positive thing that came from Sellers’s belief that Leno was haunting him, and that was his decision to reprise his most popular film role. While experiencing a bit of a mental breakdown of his own in 1974, Sellers claimed that Leno told him to “return to Clouseau.” Despite having had a falling-out with Pink Panther director Blake Edwards following the release of 1964’s A Shot in the Dark, Sellers did as Leno asked and agreed to be in The Return of the Pink Panther, which came out in 1975. Sellers was back on top again, thanks to the ghostly “advice,” and he went on to make millions of dollars off the subsequent sequels. 

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Roastmaster Jeff Ross at the Comedy Central Roast Of Bruce Willis (Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage) 4 Jokes That Were So Offensive They Were Removed From Comedy Central Roasts 6 minutes ago By Tony Alpsen

4 Jokes That Were So Offensive They Were Removed From Comedy Central Roasts

Peter Sellers (Photo by United Artists/Getty Images) The Dead Comedian The ‘Pink Panther’ Star Said Was Haunting Him 13 minutes ago By Tony Alpsen

The Dead Comedian The ‘Pink Panther’ Star Said Was Haunting Him

Screenshot: The Pokémon Company Pokémon Winds and Waves Leak Claims Fan-Favorite Feature Finally Returning in Gen 10 39 minutes ago By Brent Koepp

Pokémon Winds and Waves Leak Claims Fan-Favorite Feature Finally Returning in Gen 10

Illustration by Reesa. Daily Horoscope: March 20, 2026 9 hours ago By Ashley Fike

Daily Horoscope: March 20, 2026

Collage by VICE VICE’s Most Anticipated Music Festivals of 2026 14 hours ago By Nick Stockton

VICE’s Most Anticipated Music Festivals of 2026

Elsie Roymans/Getty Images 4 of the All-Time Best Performances by Megadeth 16 hours ago By Stephen Andrew Galiher

4 of the All-Time Best Performances by Megadeth

By Stephen Andrew Galiher

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images Dave Grohl’s Advice for Starting a Band: ‘Anything’s Possible’ 16 hours ago By Lauren Boisvert

Dave Grohl’s Advice for Starting a Band: ‘Anything’s Possible’

WWE The Bella Twins Reveal Length of WWE Contracts: ‘That Will Be the End for Us’ 16 hours ago By Haley Miller

The Bella Twins Reveal Length of WWE Contracts: ‘That Will Be the End for Us’

Screenshot: Epic Games Game of Thrones Fortnite Skins Revealed – Release Date, Shop Time & Bundle Items Leaked 16 hours ago By Brent Koepp

Game of Thrones Fortnite Skins Revealed – Release Date, Shop Time & Bundle Items Leaked

Asteroid Ryugu Asteroid Ryugu Is Carrying All 5 DNA Building Blocks of Life. Could There Be Another Earth in the Universe? 16 hours ago By Luis Prada

Asteroid Ryugu Is Carrying All 5 DNA Building Blocks of Life. Could There Be Another Earth in the Universe?

Add your account details

© Vice