Blake Edwards

The man credited with creating the "Pink Panther" passed away this morning at 88.

Edwards will be remembered as a comic genius for creating Peter Sellers's "Pink Panther" character and for writing and directing a slew of comedies -- including "10," "Victor/Victoria" and "S.O.B." -- the last two starring his wife of 41 years, Julie Andrews. His films became the template for '80s-era smart comedy. But the writer/director also had a serious side, directing Audrey Hepburn in 1961's adaptation of Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and 1962's brutal look at alcoholism, "Days of Wine and Roses."

"I would not be able to get through life had I not been able to view its painfulness in a comedic way," he once told a reporter. "So when I put life up there on the screen, quite often it resembles things that happen to me or at least comic metaphors for those things."

Below, a clip from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" we think makes for a fitting memorial:

After the jump, a little of that signature Edwards humor:

Blake Edwards (July 26, 1922 - December 16, 2010) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.

Edwards's distinguished career began in the 1940s as an actor but soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures. He used his writing skills to begin producing and directing, with some of his best films including: Experiment in Terror, The Great Race, and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with the British comedian Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he was also renowned for his dramatic work, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Days of Wine and Roses.

Career

Born William Blake Crump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Edwards was the son of a stage director. He began his career as an actor and scriptwriter, including seven screenplays for Richard Quine.

His early career as a scriptwriter was for radio where he was given an early break by Orson Welles on his production of War of the Worlds. Welles later credited Edwards as having written the famous line: "They're here and they're hungry." His hard-boiled private detective scripts for Richard Diamond, Private Detective became NBC's answer to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, reflecting Edwards's unique humor. Edwards also created, wrote and directed the 1959 TV series Peter Gunn, with music by Henry Mancini. In the same year Edwards produced, with Mancini's musical theme, Mr. Lucky, an adventure series on CBS starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin. Mancini's association with Edwards continued in his film work, significantly contributing to their success.

Edwards's most popular films have been comedies, the alcoholism-themed melodrama Days of Wine and Roses being a notable exception. His most dynamic and successful collaboration has been with Peter Sellers in six of the movies in the Pink Panther series. Five of the those involved Edwards and Sellers in original material, while Trail of the Pink Panther, made after Sellers's passing in 1980, was made up of unused material from The Pink Panther Strikes Again.

In 2004, Edwards received an Honorary Academy Award for cumulative achievements over the course of his film career. His acceptance speech was noted for not mentioning Sellers, his longtime collaborator.

Personal life

Edwards's second wife (since 1969) and widow is Julie Andrews, who appeared in a number of his films, including Darling Lili, 10, Victor/Victoria and the autobiographical satire S.O.B., in which Andrews played a character who was a caricature of herself. In 1995, he wrote the book for the stage musical adaptation of Victor/Victoria, also starring Andrews.

He described his struggle with the illness chronic fatigue syndrome for 15 years in the documentary I Remember Me.

Edwards and Andrews had five children. The two eldest, Jennifer and Geoffrey, are from his previous marriage; middle child Emma is from Andrews's first marriage; and the youngest children are two adopted orphans from Vietnam, Amelia Leigh and Joanna Lynne. Edwards and Andrews adopted them in the early 1970s. All of the children, except Joanna, have appeared in his movies. Edwards was the grandson of prolific silent-film director J. Gordon Edwards.