Actor, Author. A native of London, England, he was the son of legendary British comedian and actor Peter Sellers and his wife actress Anne Howe. He appeared in his father's 1961 film, "Mr. Topaze", as 'Gaston.'. He also appeared on the television programs, "Kelly", and "Somebody's Daughter, Somebody's Son." Sellers was also the author of the books, "P.S. I Love You: An Intimate Portrait of Peter Sellers", and "Sellers On Sellers" in 2000." Ironically he died of a heart attack on July 24, 2006, at the age of 52, on the 26th anniversary of his father's passing.∼Michael Sellers, who has died aged 52, was the only son of the actor Peter Sellers, and the author of two memoirs detailing their strained and often tempestuous relationship.
He published the first volume, PS I Love You, in 1981, a year after Peter Sellers's death. "As fathers go, he wasn't too hot", he wrote. "All he taught me about was living life in the fast lane." The book painted a portrait of a spiteful and neglectful parent, and included a whole chapter devoted to the vicious telexes sent to Michael and his sister Sarah, in which Peter Sellers virtually disowned them.
Michael's second memoir, Sellers on Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe), made headlines with its somewhat dubious claim that his father had had a full-blown affair with Princess Margaret, which allegedly began after the Princess made overtures to Sellers following a dinner party at Kensington Palace. Though he claimed that it was important for him to express what it was like being his father's child, Michael Sellers confessed: "If I said I didn't do it for the money as well, I'd be lying." For although he remained at his father's bedside while he lay dying in hospital, Michael Sellers was left high and dry after the actor's death in 1980.Peter Sellers had changed his will two years earlier, bequeathing his £4.5 million fortune - which included his property, art collection, family heirlooms and residual rights from his records and films - to his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick. Although the couple had been on the point of getting divorced at the time of his death (Lynne Frederick remarried six months later), the provisions of the will were carried out; Michael and his sister and step-sister were left just £750 each, with the admonition that they should "stand on [their] own feet".
In Michael Sellers's view the will had been carefully drafted to forestall legal challenge: " Had we been cut off with nothing, we could have challenged the will on the basis that he had forgotten to include us," he said. "But we were told that taking it to court would mean throwing away money we didn't have, and the only beneficiaries would be the lawyers." He insisted that his bitterness was directed towards Lynne Frederick rather than his father, whom he claimed had been foolishly deceived.
His memoirs, nonetheless, do not entirely bear out this interpretation. Michael Sellers was born on April 2 1954, the first child of Peter Sellers's marriage to the actress Anne Howe. He spent much of his childhood in and out of film studios in London, Los Angeles and Rome, passing his school holidays on yachts in the Mediterranean or flying to Disneyland by helicopter. By his later account none of this compensated for his treatment by his father, of whom he claimed to be "petrified". "My father was so unpredictable," he wrote. "One minute, he was all over us, showering us with gifts, the next he was remote, harsh and uncaring. At those times, he would quibble over the price of an ice-cream - yet he'd cheerfully lavish money on useless gadgets and more cars than he could possibly drive."
When Michael was six, his father woke him one night and asked him, "Do you think your mother and I should get divorced?" His answer is not recorded, but the marriage fell apart in 1963 during the making of The Millionairess, when Peter Sellers became obsessed with his co-star, Sophia Loren, mistakenly believing that she felt the same way.
After the divorce, Sellers failed to keep up the £5-a-week maintenance payments for Michael and his sister, and made it increasingly clear that he regarded parenthood as a burden. On the day after Michael's 10th birthday, he hired a truck to remove all of his son's toys from his house.
When Michael was in his early teens, his father wrote to him: "I no longer wish to be thought of as your father. The time has come for you to continue on your own way. My final suggestion is that you change your surname." Yet they continued to maintain contact: "These rows would always blow over and a few months later we would be friends again, as if nothing had happened."
Michael was educated at King Alfred School, Golders Green, where he edited a short film, Rebel and Recluse, which was entered for Britain's first National Film Festival for students in 1969. But it soon became clear he was not destined to follow his parents into showbusiness.
After leaving school he worked for a time as a dogsbody in a recording studio, and in 1975 he joined forces with Spike Milligan's son, Sean, to set up an interior decorating firm.
After a failed business venture as a carpenter restoring classic cars, he became a builder near Kettering.
After his father's death, Michael Sellers gave the go-ahead for The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), created from unused footage featuring his father as Inspector Clouseau.
In 2002 he claimed to have recorded a CD with a friend, which he was sending to record companies. "I think I was a disappointment to Dad because I didn't do anything creative," he explained. "I loved him despite everything, and of course I loved his work, but he was an impossible act to follow. Now, just maybe, he might be proud of me."
Michael Sellers died during surgery on July 24 following a heart attack; his father died from the same cause 26 years earlier to the day.
He married, in 1979, Carolyn Athay, who left him after six weeks for another man.
He is survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and by their two children.
The Daily Telegraph, London
www.telegraphy.co.uk
He published the first volume, PS I Love You, in 1981, a year after Peter Sellers's death. "As fathers go, he wasn't too hot", he wrote. "All he taught me about was living life in the fast lane." The book painted a portrait of a spiteful and neglectful parent, and included a whole chapter devoted to the vicious telexes sent to Michael and his sister Sarah, in which Peter Sellers virtually disowned them.
Michael's second memoir, Sellers on Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe), made headlines with its somewhat dubious claim that his father had had a full-blown affair with Princess Margaret, which allegedly began after the Princess made overtures to Sellers following a dinner party at Kensington Palace. Though he claimed that it was important for him to express what it was like being his father's child, Michael Sellers confessed: "If I said I didn't do it for the money as well, I'd be lying." For although he remained at his father's bedside while he lay dying in hospital, Michael Sellers was left high and dry after the actor's death in 1980.Peter Sellers had changed his will two years earlier, bequeathing his £4.5 million fortune - which included his property, art collection, family heirlooms and residual rights from his records and films - to his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick. Although the couple had been on the point of getting divorced at the time of his death (Lynne Frederick remarried six months later), the provisions of the will were carried out; Michael and his sister and step-sister were left just £750 each, with the admonition that they should "stand on [their] own feet".
In Michael Sellers's view the will had been carefully drafted to forestall legal challenge: " Had we been cut off with nothing, we could have challenged the will on the basis that he had forgotten to include us," he said. "But we were told that taking it to court would mean throwing away money we didn't have, and the only beneficiaries would be the lawyers." He insisted that his bitterness was directed towards Lynne Frederick rather than his father, whom he claimed had been foolishly deceived.
His memoirs, nonetheless, do not entirely bear out this interpretation. Michael Sellers was born on April 2 1954, the first child of Peter Sellers's marriage to the actress Anne Howe. He spent much of his childhood in and out of film studios in London, Los Angeles and Rome, passing his school holidays on yachts in the Mediterranean or flying to Disneyland by helicopter. By his later account none of this compensated for his treatment by his father, of whom he claimed to be "petrified". "My father was so unpredictable," he wrote. "One minute, he was all over us, showering us with gifts, the next he was remote, harsh and uncaring. At those times, he would quibble over the price of an ice-cream - yet he'd cheerfully lavish money on useless gadgets and more cars than he could possibly drive."
When Michael was six, his father woke him one night and asked him, "Do you think your mother and I should get divorced?" His answer is not recorded, but the marriage fell apart in 1963 during the making of The Millionairess, when Peter Sellers became obsessed with his co-star, Sophia Loren, mistakenly believing that she felt the same way.
After the divorce, Sellers failed to keep up the £5-a-week maintenance payments for Michael and his sister, and made it increasingly clear that he regarded parenthood as a burden. On the day after Michael's 10th birthday, he hired a truck to remove all of his son's toys from his house.
When Michael was in his early teens, his father wrote to him: "I no longer wish to be thought of as your father. The time has come for you to continue on your own way. My final suggestion is that you change your surname." Yet they continued to maintain contact: "These rows would always blow over and a few months later we would be friends again, as if nothing had happened."
Michael was educated at King Alfred School, Golders Green, where he edited a short film, Rebel and Recluse, which was entered for Britain's first National Film Festival for students in 1969. But it soon became clear he was not destined to follow his parents into showbusiness.
After leaving school he worked for a time as a dogsbody in a recording studio, and in 1975 he joined forces with Spike Milligan's son, Sean, to set up an interior decorating firm.
After a failed business venture as a carpenter restoring classic cars, he became a builder near Kettering.
After his father's death, Michael Sellers gave the go-ahead for The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), created from unused footage featuring his father as Inspector Clouseau.
In 2002 he claimed to have recorded a CD with a friend, which he was sending to record companies. "I think I was a disappointment to Dad because I didn't do anything creative," he explained. "I loved him despite everything, and of course I loved his work, but he was an impossible act to follow. Now, just maybe, he might be proud of me."
Michael Sellers died during surgery on July 24 following a heart attack; his father died from the same cause 26 years earlier to the day.
He married, in 1979, Carolyn Athay, who left him after six weeks for another man.
He is survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and by their two children.
The Daily Telegraph, London
www.telegraphy.co.uk
Actor, Author. A native of London, England, he was the son of legendary British comedian and actor Peter Sellers and his wife actress Anne Howe. He appeared in his father's 1961 film, "Mr. Topaze", as 'Gaston.'. He also appeared on the television programs, "Kelly", and "Somebody's Daughter, Somebody's Son." Sellers was also the author of the books, "P.S. I Love You: An Intimate Portrait of Peter Sellers", and "Sellers On Sellers" in 2000." Ironically he died of a heart attack on July 24, 2006, at the age of 52, on the 26th anniversary of his father's passing.∼Michael Sellers, who has died aged 52, was the only son of the actor Peter Sellers, and the author of two memoirs detailing their strained and often tempestuous relationship.
He published the first volume, PS I Love You, in 1981, a year after Peter Sellers's death. "As fathers go, he wasn't too hot", he wrote. "All he taught me about was living life in the fast lane." The book painted a portrait of a spiteful and neglectful parent, and included a whole chapter devoted to the vicious telexes sent to Michael and his sister Sarah, in which Peter Sellers virtually disowned them.
Michael's second memoir, Sellers on Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe), made headlines with its somewhat dubious claim that his father had had a full-blown affair with Princess Margaret, which allegedly began after the Princess made overtures to Sellers following a dinner party at Kensington Palace. Though he claimed that it was important for him to express what it was like being his father's child, Michael Sellers confessed: "If I said I didn't do it for the money as well, I'd be lying." For although he remained at his father's bedside while he lay dying in hospital, Michael Sellers was left high and dry after the actor's death in 1980.Peter Sellers had changed his will two years earlier, bequeathing his £4.5 million fortune - which included his property, art collection, family heirlooms and residual rights from his records and films - to his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick. Although the couple had been on the point of getting divorced at the time of his death (Lynne Frederick remarried six months later), the provisions of the will were carried out; Michael and his sister and step-sister were left just £750 each, with the admonition that they should "stand on [their] own feet".
In Michael Sellers's view the will had been carefully drafted to forestall legal challenge: " Had we been cut off with nothing, we could have challenged the will on the basis that he had forgotten to include us," he said. "But we were told that taking it to court would mean throwing away money we didn't have, and the only beneficiaries would be the lawyers." He insisted that his bitterness was directed towards Lynne Frederick rather than his father, whom he claimed had been foolishly deceived.
His memoirs, nonetheless, do not entirely bear out this interpretation. Michael Sellers was born on April 2 1954, the first child of Peter Sellers's marriage to the actress Anne Howe. He spent much of his childhood in and out of film studios in London, Los Angeles and Rome, passing his school holidays on yachts in the Mediterranean or flying to Disneyland by helicopter. By his later account none of this compensated for his treatment by his father, of whom he claimed to be "petrified". "My father was so unpredictable," he wrote. "One minute, he was all over us, showering us with gifts, the next he was remote, harsh and uncaring. At those times, he would quibble over the price of an ice-cream - yet he'd cheerfully lavish money on useless gadgets and more cars than he could possibly drive."
When Michael was six, his father woke him one night and asked him, "Do you think your mother and I should get divorced?" His answer is not recorded, but the marriage fell apart in 1963 during the making of The Millionairess, when Peter Sellers became obsessed with his co-star, Sophia Loren, mistakenly believing that she felt the same way.
After the divorce, Sellers failed to keep up the £5-a-week maintenance payments for Michael and his sister, and made it increasingly clear that he regarded parenthood as a burden. On the day after Michael's 10th birthday, he hired a truck to remove all of his son's toys from his house.
When Michael was in his early teens, his father wrote to him: "I no longer wish to be thought of as your father. The time has come for you to continue on your own way. My final suggestion is that you change your surname." Yet they continued to maintain contact: "These rows would always blow over and a few months later we would be friends again, as if nothing had happened."
Michael was educated at King Alfred School, Golders Green, where he edited a short film, Rebel and Recluse, which was entered for Britain's first National Film Festival for students in 1969. But it soon became clear he was not destined to follow his parents into showbusiness.
After leaving school he worked for a time as a dogsbody in a recording studio, and in 1975 he joined forces with Spike Milligan's son, Sean, to set up an interior decorating firm.
After a failed business venture as a carpenter restoring classic cars, he became a builder near Kettering.
After his father's death, Michael Sellers gave the go-ahead for The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), created from unused footage featuring his father as Inspector Clouseau.
In 2002 he claimed to have recorded a CD with a friend, which he was sending to record companies. "I think I was a disappointment to Dad because I didn't do anything creative," he explained. "I loved him despite everything, and of course I loved his work, but he was an impossible act to follow. Now, just maybe, he might be proud of me."
Michael Sellers died during surgery on July 24 following a heart attack; his father died from the same cause 26 years earlier to the day.
He married, in 1979, Carolyn Athay, who left him after six weeks for another man.
He is survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and by their two children.
The Daily Telegraph, London
www.telegraphy.co.uk
He published the first volume, PS I Love You, in 1981, a year after Peter Sellers's death. "As fathers go, he wasn't too hot", he wrote. "All he taught me about was living life in the fast lane." The book painted a portrait of a spiteful and neglectful parent, and included a whole chapter devoted to the vicious telexes sent to Michael and his sister Sarah, in which Peter Sellers virtually disowned them.
Michael's second memoir, Sellers on Sellers (2000, co-written with Gary Morecambe), made headlines with its somewhat dubious claim that his father had had a full-blown affair with Princess Margaret, which allegedly began after the Princess made overtures to Sellers following a dinner party at Kensington Palace. Though he claimed that it was important for him to express what it was like being his father's child, Michael Sellers confessed: "If I said I didn't do it for the money as well, I'd be lying." For although he remained at his father's bedside while he lay dying in hospital, Michael Sellers was left high and dry after the actor's death in 1980.Peter Sellers had changed his will two years earlier, bequeathing his £4.5 million fortune - which included his property, art collection, family heirlooms and residual rights from his records and films - to his fourth wife, Lynne Frederick. Although the couple had been on the point of getting divorced at the time of his death (Lynne Frederick remarried six months later), the provisions of the will were carried out; Michael and his sister and step-sister were left just £750 each, with the admonition that they should "stand on [their] own feet".
In Michael Sellers's view the will had been carefully drafted to forestall legal challenge: " Had we been cut off with nothing, we could have challenged the will on the basis that he had forgotten to include us," he said. "But we were told that taking it to court would mean throwing away money we didn't have, and the only beneficiaries would be the lawyers." He insisted that his bitterness was directed towards Lynne Frederick rather than his father, whom he claimed had been foolishly deceived.
His memoirs, nonetheless, do not entirely bear out this interpretation. Michael Sellers was born on April 2 1954, the first child of Peter Sellers's marriage to the actress Anne Howe. He spent much of his childhood in and out of film studios in London, Los Angeles and Rome, passing his school holidays on yachts in the Mediterranean or flying to Disneyland by helicopter. By his later account none of this compensated for his treatment by his father, of whom he claimed to be "petrified". "My father was so unpredictable," he wrote. "One minute, he was all over us, showering us with gifts, the next he was remote, harsh and uncaring. At those times, he would quibble over the price of an ice-cream - yet he'd cheerfully lavish money on useless gadgets and more cars than he could possibly drive."
When Michael was six, his father woke him one night and asked him, "Do you think your mother and I should get divorced?" His answer is not recorded, but the marriage fell apart in 1963 during the making of The Millionairess, when Peter Sellers became obsessed with his co-star, Sophia Loren, mistakenly believing that she felt the same way.
After the divorce, Sellers failed to keep up the £5-a-week maintenance payments for Michael and his sister, and made it increasingly clear that he regarded parenthood as a burden. On the day after Michael's 10th birthday, he hired a truck to remove all of his son's toys from his house.
When Michael was in his early teens, his father wrote to him: "I no longer wish to be thought of as your father. The time has come for you to continue on your own way. My final suggestion is that you change your surname." Yet they continued to maintain contact: "These rows would always blow over and a few months later we would be friends again, as if nothing had happened."
Michael was educated at King Alfred School, Golders Green, where he edited a short film, Rebel and Recluse, which was entered for Britain's first National Film Festival for students in 1969. But it soon became clear he was not destined to follow his parents into showbusiness.
After leaving school he worked for a time as a dogsbody in a recording studio, and in 1975 he joined forces with Spike Milligan's son, Sean, to set up an interior decorating firm.
After a failed business venture as a carpenter restoring classic cars, he became a builder near Kettering.
After his father's death, Michael Sellers gave the go-ahead for The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), created from unused footage featuring his father as Inspector Clouseau.
In 2002 he claimed to have recorded a CD with a friend, which he was sending to record companies. "I think I was a disappointment to Dad because I didn't do anything creative," he explained. "I loved him despite everything, and of course I loved his work, but he was an impossible act to follow. Now, just maybe, he might be proud of me."
Michael Sellers died during surgery on July 24 following a heart attack; his father died from the same cause 26 years earlier to the day.
He married, in 1979, Carolyn Athay, who left him after six weeks for another man.
He is survived by his second wife, Alison, whom he married in 1986, and by their two children.
The Daily Telegraph, London
www.telegraphy.co.uk
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