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
Trail of the Pink Panther appearance as Clouseau in the World War II flashback. The film was a critical failure. Although the film was marketed as a tribute to Sellers, it was widely panned by critics. It was released for Christmas 1982 and grossed only $9 million - $22,971,889.12 in 2017 dollars ($1,341,695 on opening weekend in 800 theaters; $3,247,458 on opening week) against its $6 million budget. In contrast, the previous film in the series, "Revenge of the Pink Panther", had made over $49 million. Nonetheless, it was soon followed by a further "Pink Panther" film, "Curse of the Pink Panther", which was shot