The Pink Panther Strikes Again The Pink Panther Strikes Again The Pink Panther Strikes Again is a 1976 British comedy film. It is the fifth film in "The Pink Panther" series and the third to include the phrase "Pink Panther" in its title, although the Pink Panther diamond is not a part of the story. The plot picks up three years after "The Return of the Pink Panther", with former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) about to be released from a psychiatric prison after having been driven mad by Inspector Jacques Clouseau's (Peter Sellers) bumbling in the previous film. A typically disastrous visit from
A Shot in the Dark (1964 film) as Burt Kwouk as his stalwart man servant Cato and André Maranne as François, all of whom would become series regulars. Elke Sommer portrays the murder suspect, Maria Gambrelli. The character of Gambrelli would return in "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), this time played by Claudia Cardinale, who appeared as Princess Dala in "The Pink Panther" (1963). Graham Stark, who portrays police officer Hercule Lajoy, would reprise this role eighteen years later, in "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982). The film was not originally written to include Clouseau, but was an adaptation of a stage play by Harry Kurnitz