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
The Pink Panther "Return.") The plot of the first film is based on the theft of this diamond. The diamond reappears in several later films in the series, "The Return of the Pink Panther," "Trail of the Pink Panther," and "Curse of the Pink Panther." It also appears in the revival of the Inspector Clouseau character in the much later Steve Martin films "The Pink Panther" (2006), and its sequel "The Pink Panther 2" (2009). The name "the Pink Panther" became attached to Inspector Clouseau in much the same way that "Frankenstein" has been used in film titles to refer to Dr. Frankenstein's