Peter Sellers he also said that in Sellers's previous films he had "been at his worst recently". In 1969 Sellers starred opposite Ringo Starr in the Joseph McGrath-directed film "The Magic Christian". Sellers portrayed Sir Guy Grand, an eccentric billionaire who plays elaborate practical jokes on people. The critic Irv Slifkin remarked that the film was a reflection of the cynicism of Peter Sellers, describing the film as a "proto-Pythonesque adaption of Terry Southern's semi-free-form short novel", and "one of the strangest films to be shown at a gala premiere for Britain's royal family". The film, a satire on human nature, was
Peter Sellers was Sellers who "changed like a chameleon throughout the era, dazzling audiences". In a 2005 poll to find "The Comedian's Comedian", Sellers was voted 14 in the list of the top 20 greatest comedians by fellow comics and comedy insiders. Sellers and "The Goon Show" were a strong influence on the Monty Python performers, as well as on Peter Cook, who described Sellers as "the best comic actor in the world". The British actor Stephen Mangan stated that Sellers was a large influence, as did the comedians Alan Carr and Rob Brydon. The comic performer Sacha Baron Cohen referred to