Blake Edwards dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. It has been described as "perhaps the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced, more pessimistic than Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend"". The film gave another major boost to Edwards's reputation as an important director. "Darling Lili" star Julie Andrews married Edwards in 1969. While a few critics such as George Morris thought the film a major picture ("it synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honor, the tension between appearances and reality, and the
Blake Edwards Panther" (1983) and "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993) were further attempts by Edwards to continue the series without Sellers but both films were critical and financial disappointments. In addition to the "Pink Panther" films, Edwards directed Sellers in the comedy film "The Party". In 2004, Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award for cumulative achievements over the course of his film career. Having grown up in Hollywood, the stepson of a studio production manager and stepgrandson of a silent-film director, Edwards had watched the films of the great silent-era comedians, including Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel and