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 derives its name from the eponymous pink diamond that has an enormous size and value. The diamond is called the "Pink Panther" because the flaw at its center, when viewed closely, is said to resemble a leaping pink panther. The phrase reappears in the title of the fourth film "The Return of the Pink Panther", in which the theft of the diamond is again the centre of the plot. The phrase was used for all the subsequent films in the series, even when the jewel did not figure in the plot. It ultimately appeared in six of the eleven films.