Pink Panther (character) Pink Panther (character) The Pink Panther is a fictional animated character who appeared in the opening and/or closing credit sequences of every film in the "Pink Panther" series except for "A Shot in the Dark" and "Inspector Clouseau". In the storyline of the original film, "the Pink Panther" was the name of a valuable pink diamond named for a flaw that showed a "figure of a springing panther" when held up to the light in a certain way; in the credits this was translated to an animated pink panther. The character's popularity spawned a spin-off franchise of theatrical shorts, television
Curse of the Pink Panther sued Edwards for alleged fraudulent overspending in 1984. Shortly after this, Edwards sued MGM for defamation of character. The lawsuits combined for over $1 billion. After much legal wrangling, they were settled out of court in 1988. Wass' option for several sequels was never taken up, though Edwards did start planning what would become "Son of the Pink Panther" around the time of the settlement – but MGM wasn't interested. They went ahead with a TV Movie in 1989 called "The New Pink Panther". Gary Nelson directed Charlie Schlatter as a wise-guy TV reporter investigating an arsonist. Schlatter teams up