![the pink panther play dreyfus the pink panther play dreyfus](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/09/28/obituaries/28lom/28lom-superJumbo.jpg)
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.
![the pink panther play dreyfus the pink panther play dreyfus](https://images.immediate.co.uk/remote/m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDI1ZTIxYjgtNWY1Ni00ODZlLTk1ZjQtZWZhNmM0ZmE4ZmNjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_.jpg)
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.
![the pink panther play dreyfus the pink panther play dreyfus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Pink_Panther.png)