In The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Peter Sellers came back to Inspector Clouseau after an eleven-year gap, and found the character waiting for him, undiminished. Directed by Blake Edwards, the film sends Clouseau after the stolen Pink Panther diamond, and lets Sellers play the detective at full stretch, in a performance that revived the series for a new generation.
The Clouseau of 1975 is older, but no wiser, and Sellers understands exactly how much of the comedy comes from his absolute seriousness. The film was a major success, and it led to further Clouseau films in the years that followed. It is a fitting late signature for Sellers: a character he had created, left behind, and returned to, as if no time had passed at all.