Known formally as William the Conqueror, his pet name to Gen. Patton was simply Willie...Patton's staff purchased Willie on March 4, 1944, in England, and Gen. Patton wrote in his diary concerning the dog...My bull pup took to me like a duck to water.
Herbert Lom reprises his role as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus from A Shot in the Dark; he remained a regular thereafter. The character of Sir Charles Lytton, the notorious Phantom, is now played by Christopher Plummer rather than David Niven (as in The Pink Panther, 1963), who was unavailable. The Pink Panther diamond once again plays a central role in the plot.
Sellersâs final Clouseau film, Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), was assembled from unused footage of the other films and was released after Sellersâs death. Inspector Clouseau (1968) starred Alan Arkin in the title role. Although most of these films have the name Pink Panther in their titles and although cartoons depicting a pink panther are shown in the extended opening titles of all the films, the precious stone called by that nickname was never again referred to in the Sellers films after the first one.