Inspector Jacques Clouseau is the bumbling and disastrous detective with the outrageous French accent, played by Peter Sellers, in the Pink Panther series of films:
- The Pink Panther (1963)
- A Shot in the Dark (1964)
- The Return of the Pink Panther (1974)
- The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
- Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
- Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
He was also played by Alan Arkin in Inspector Clouseau (1968), and there were two late, poorly-reviewed Pink Panther sequels without Sellers. It is reported that Kevin Spacey may be interested in reviving the role.
His incompetence has driven his boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (played by Herbert Lom) mad, and Dreyfus is forever trying to kill him. Clouseau's faithful Oriental servant Cato (Bert Kwouk) keeps springing out at him unexpectedly as part of a training in martial arts.
His accent is responsible for such classics as berm (a thing that explerds), being bitten by a derg (old joke, I thought you said your derg didn't bite - It is not mah derg), and the minkey.
Inspector Clouseau featured on a 17p British postage stamp in 1985, commemorating great British comedians, with a band-aid on his head and trying to read a newspaper inconspicuously.