<P> Clouseau's likeness also appears in the Pink Panther animated cartoon shorts and segments . More recent animated depictions from the 1970s onward were redesigned to more closely resemble Sellers, and later Martin . </P> <P> Clouseau is an inept and incompetent police detective in the French Sûreté, whose investigations quickly turn to chaos . His absent - mindedness almost always leads to destruction of property: while interviewing witnesses in The Pink Panther Strikes Again, he falls down a set of stairs, gets his hand caught in a medieval knight's gauntlet, then a vase; knocks a witness senseless, destroys a priceless piano, and accidentally shoots another officer . Despite his lack of judgement and skill, Clouseau always solves his cases and finds the correct culprits, entirely by accident . He is promoted to Chief Inspector over the course of the series, and is regarded by background characters as France's greatest detective, until they encounter him directly . His incompetence, combined with his luck and his periodically correct interpretations of the situation, frustrate his direct superior (former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus) so intensely he is eventually transformed into a homicidal psychotic . Clouseau appears convinced of his own intelligence, but does show some awareness of his limits, and attempts to appear elegant and refined regardless of the latest calamity he has just caused . He also insists upon elaborate costumes and aliases that range from the mundane (a worker for the phone company) to the preposterous (a buck - toothed hunchback with an oversize nose); but these are usually overcome by his characteristic mannerisms . </P> <P> Chief Inspector Clouseau is a patriotic Frenchman; later films reveal he had fought in the French Resistance during the Second World War . He has been prone to infatuation (often reciprocated) ever since the first film, in which his antagonist cuckolds him . He is repeatedly perplexed by transvestites, to the extent that he addresses them as "Sir or Madam". Sellers maintained that Clouseau's ego made the character's klutziness funnier, in the attempt to remain elegant and refined while causing chaos . As rendered by Sellers, Clouseau's faux French accent became more exaggerated in successive films (for example, pronouncing "room" as "reum"; "Pope" as "Peup"; "bomb" as "beumb"; and "bumps" as "beumps" or "bimps"), and a frequent running gag in the movies was that even French characters had difficulty understanding what he was saying . Much of that humour was lost in the French dubbing, wherein the French post-synchronization gave Clouseau an odd - sounding, nasal voice . Clouseau's immense ego, eccentricity, exaggerated French accent, and prominent mustache were derived from Hercule Poirot, the fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie . In his earliest appearances, Clouseau is slightly less inept and exaggerated; but in his first appearance he believes himself a skilled violinist, but plays out of tune, and often appears clumsy at his moments of highest dignity . </P> <P> Jacques Clouseau makes his first appearance as the Inspector in the 1963 film The Pink Panther, which was released in the United States in March 1964 . In this movie, the main focus was on David Niven's role as Sir Charles Lytton, the infamous jewel thief nicknamed "the Phantom", and his plan to steal the Pink Panther diamond; while the Clouseau character plays a supporting role as Lytton's incompetent antagonist, and provides slapstick comic relief . In this film, Clouseau's wife Simone (Capucine), is secretly Sir Charles' lover and accomplice, and departs with him at the end of the film after they have framed Clouseau for the theft of the Pink Panther, although Lytton notes that he will clear Clouseau's name when the Phantom's next crime is committed . </P>

Who played inspector clouseau in the pink panther