The Magic Christian (novel) The Magic Christian (novel) The Magic Christian is a 1959 comic novel by American author Terry Southern (1924–1995) about an odd billionaire who spends most of his time playing elaborate practical jokes on people. It is known for bringing Southern to the attention of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who had received a copy as a gift from Peter Sellers, and subsequently hired him as co-writer for "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) when Kubrick decided to make that film a black comedy/satire, rather than a straightforward thriller. In 1969, "The Magic Christian" was made into a film starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr; the
Peter Sellers to New York in December 2010. "The Belfast Telegraph" notes how the film captured Sellers's "life of drugs, drink, fast cars and lots and lots of beautiful women". Although the film was widely praised by critics, both Lord Snowdon and Britt Ekland were highly critical of the film and the enactment of Sellers; Ekland believed that the film left the audiences with the wrong idea of her former husband, saying "the film leaves you with the impression that Peter Sellers was essentially a likeable man when in reality he was a monster. He may have been a brilliant actor, but