In Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, which actor played three major roles?

Peter Sellers played three major roles in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.

Sellers portrayed Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, U.S. President Merkin Muffley, and the title character, Dr. Strangelove. The 1964 film is a Cold War black comedy about an accidental nuclear crisis and the military and political figures trying to respond to it. Sellers’s ability to create sharply different voices and physical performances was central to the film’s comic design.

He was originally expected to play a fourth role, Major Kong, but an injury and difficulty with the character’s Texas accent prevented him from doing so. Slim Pickens ultimately played Kong. This is why some summaries say Sellers was intended to play four parts, while the completed film contains three of his performances.

Dr. Strangelove was adapted from Peter George’s novel Red Alert, though Kubrick and his collaborators reshaped the material into satire. The film’s full title is Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a phrase that became strongly associated with Cold War cinema.