The Pink Panther portrayed by David Niven, Peter Sellers's performance was so popular that the resulting series was built on the Clouseau character, rather than the Phantom character. Niven's and Sellers's co-stars included Capucine, Robert Wagner, and Claudia Cardinale. Released less than a year after "The Pink Panther". Clouseau returns to muddle his way through a murder investigation. This marks the first appearance of Herbert Lom's Commissioner Dreyfus, his assistant François (portrayed by André Maranne), and Clouseau's manservant, Cato (portrayed by Burt Kwouk). Co-starring Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Graham Stark and Tracy Reed. This film stars Alan Arkin as Clouseau, and does not
The Pink Panther later adopted by the animated spin-off series, "The Inspector." Although official, the live-action film "Inspector Clouseau" (1968) starring Alan Arkin, is generally not considered by fans to be part of the series canon, since it involved neither Sellers nor Edwards. Some elements of Arkin's performance and costuming, however, were retained when Peter Sellers resumed the role of Clouseau for "Return" in 1975. Despite speculation, Alan Arkin does not appear in "Trail of the Pink Panther." The film that launched the second Pink Panther series, "The Pink Panther," starring Martin as Clouseau, directed by Shawn Levy and produced by Robert Simonds,