The Return of the Pink Panther The Return of the Pink Panther The Return of the Pink Panther is a 1975 comedy film and the fourth film in The Pink Panther series. The film stars Peter Sellers, returning to the role of Inspector Clouseau, for the first time since "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), after having declined to reprise the role in "Inspector Clouseau" (1968). The film was a commercial hit and revived the previously dormant series. Herbert Lom reprises his role as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus from "A Shot in the Dark"; he remained a regular thereafter. The character of Sir Charles Lytton, the
Trail of the Pink Panther in the fashion of Jack Lemmon's Professor Fate). When Sellers died, United Artists tried to get Dudley Moore to play Clouseau in the Sellers-penned "Romance of the Pink Panther". Moore wouldn't do it without Edwards and was only willing to play Clouseau once as a tribute to Sellers (knowing "Romance" was to have ended the series, according from a LA Times interview with Moore in 1980). United Artists wanted the series to continue, but Edwards wouldn't use another actor as Clouseau, no doubt remembering the negative reception that "Inspector Clouseau" suffered upon release in 1968 (a production which featured Alan