Terry Southern of the Monty Python team. Cleese later described McGrath as having "no idea of comedy structure" and complained that the film ended up as "a series of celebrity walk-ons." The film was shot in London between February and May 1969. The cast was headed by Sellers (as Guy Grand) and Ringo Starr as his son Youngman Grand (a new character created for the movie), with cameo appearances by Spike Milligan, Christopher Lee, Laurence Harvey, Raquel Welch, Roman Polanski and Yul Brynner. As with "Dr Strangelove", Sellers habitually improvised on the script during filming. During production McGrath and Southern discussed a
Peter Sellers Roy Boulting in "Carlton-Browne of the F.O.", a comedy in which he played a supporting role for the film's lead, Terry-Thomas. Before the release of that film, the Boultings, along with Sellers and Thomas in the cast, started filming "I'm All Right Jack", which became the highest grossing film at the British box office in 1960. In preparation for his role as Fred Kite, Sellers watched footage of union officials. The role earned him a BAFTA, and the critic for "The Manchester Guardian" believed it was Sellers's best screen performance to date. In between "Carlton-Browne of the F.O." and "I'm