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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
- Author
- Roger Lewis
- Narrator
- Justin Avoth
- Publisher
- Quercus
- Publish Date
- 17 July 2025
- Run Time
- 40 hours 44 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
What to expect
'A fascinating, tragic and instructive story, vividly told' Sunday Telegraph
Roger Lewis, in his no-holds-barred biography, exposes a Peter Sellers the world little knows. Recognized as the greatest British comic since Charlie Chaplin, Sellers was the grand master of fifty-five films - from Dr. Strangelove, to Being There and the Pink Panther hits.
But shadowing his phenomenal career was a history of increasingly bizarre behaviour involving psychotic violence, compulsive promiscuity, drug abuse and humiliating self-destructive obsessions with people including Princess Margaret, Sophia Loren, Liza Minnelli and each of his four wives (Ann Hayes, Britt Ekland, Miranda Quarry and Lynne Frederick). He alternately showered his wives and children with gifts and then threatened to kill them. Sellers' fluidity as an actor made for a terrifying madness that grew like a slow metastasizing cancer throughout his adult life.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers concludes with his premature death at the age of 54, 'sick at heart and alone in those sunless hotel rooms', so recoiled from intimacy that no one really knew him anymore.
PRAISE FOR THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS
'It is a mad book - but then the subject is a madman. I love Lewis's passion ... I recommend it' Sunday Times
'Reinventing the genre as well as reassessing its subject with formidable intelligence, this book is a remarkable achievement' Literary Review
Critics Review
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Everything one could possibly want to know about Sellers is contained in this book.
New York Times
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Sensational . . . consistently engrossing
Daily Mail (Book of the Week)
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Gloriously revealing, funny and tragic . . . Sellers is a gift to his new biographer's talents
Mirror
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The showbiz book of the year
Christopher Bray, The Tablet
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Lewis' portrait of this most complex of figures is as funny, maddening and enthralling as its subject
Daunt Books (Five Favourite Books of the Week)
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
-
5.0 5.0
Spending this much time with Peter Sellers feels like a bad idea as the author goes through his life with a fine comb looking for a redeeming quality. He doesn’t find one.
You can’t knock the research, the thoroughness, painting a credible picture of the world as it was in Sellers’ lifetime.
But what really got me through was the narration. How do you narrate the story of one of the world’s greatest voice artists? Especially in a book crammed with characters and known personalities?
The narrator did an amazing job - giving the essence of each voice without trying to mimic. Like having the impersonation dial at 50%. It really worked and gave the sense of a huge cast of characters without pulling away from the thread of the story. A magnificent job.mrhawkins 2025-07-29
Details
- Author
- Roger Lewis
- Narrator
- Justin Avoth
- Duration
- 40 hours 44 minutes
- Release Date
- 17 July 2025
- ISBN
- 9781529444049
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Quercus
- Genre
- Biography: arts and entertainment
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
'A fascinating, tragic and instructive story, vividly told' Sunday TelegraphRoger Lewis, in his no-holds-barred biography, exposes a Peter Sellers the world little knows. Recognized as the greatest British comic since Charlie Chaplin, Sellers was the grand master of fifty-five films - from Dr. Strangelove, to Being There and the Pink Panther hits. But shadowing his phenomenal career was a history of increasingly bizarre behaviour involving psychotic violence, compulsive promiscuity, drug abuse and humiliating self-destructive obsessions with people including Princess Margaret, Sophia Loren, Liza Minnelli and each of his four wives (Ann Hayes, Britt Ekland, Miranda Quarry and Lynne Frederick). He alternately showered his wives and children with gifts and then threatened to kill them. Sellers' fluidity as an actor made for a terrifying madness that grew like a slow metastasizing cancer throughout his adult life. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers concludes with his premature death at the age of 54, 'sick at heart and alone in those sunless hotel rooms', so recoiled from intimacy that no one really knew him anymore.PRAISE FOR THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS'It is a mad book - but then the subject is a madman. I love Lewis's passion ... I recommend it' Sunday Times'Reinventing the genre as well as reassessing its subject with formidable intelligence, this book is a remarkable achievement' Literary Review
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