Inspector Clouseau is a patriotic Frenchman whose country is professedly his highest priority, has been prone to infatuation (often reciprocated) after being cuckolded by Sir Charles Lytton, and is repeatedly perplexed by transvestites, to the extent that he addresses them as "Sir or Madame." In Trail of the Pink Panther, we see that during World War II, Clouseau fought in the French Resistance, but the flashbacks only serve to reiterate the fact that Clouseau can survive anything despite of, or perhaps due to, his incompetence. In The Pink Panther Strikes Again, assassins from all over the world are sent to kill Clouseau, whereupon he moves from their target at just the right moment to ensure that the killers eliminate one another. This approach accelerates, with Clouseau falling down stairs, falling into pools and fountains, causing fires and disasters, and even being bombed repeatedly, an idea worked into Steve Martin's portrayal of the character. Sheer luck or clumsiness usually saves him, as in the first film wherein a farcical car chase around a fountain results in the collision of all the vehicles and the capture of the thieves. Peter Sellers, the actor portraying Clouseau, remarked that, in his opinion, Clouseau knew he was a buffoon, but had an incredible knack for survival. It has been suggested that portraying the incompetent policeman as French is based on a British stereotype of the French police or even the French population as a whole. Clouseau's accent is not emphasized in the first film, but from A Shot in the Dark onwards, the exaggerated accent became part of the joke. Jacques Clouseau is a clumsy, incompetent, but zealous policeman and detective who speaks English-with a ludicrous French accent-while other characters speak English, often with their own accents. Appearances: All Panther films except Son of the Pink Panther (not counting picture cameo).First appearance: The Pink Panther (1963).
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