What country is Inspector Clouseau in “The Pink Panther” from? The answer is France.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional French detective created for Blake Edwards’s The Pink Panther series. He works for the French Sûreté, the national police organization portrayed in the films, and is identified by his exaggerated French accent, elaborate disguises, self-confidence, and spectacular clumsiness.
Clouseau first appeared in the 1963 film The Pink Panther, played by Peter Sellers. In that story, he investigates the theft of the Pink Panther diamond while pursuing the jewel thief known as the Phantom. Although Clouseau was initially a supporting character, Sellers’s performance made him the central comic figure of the series. Later films and adaptations continued to present him as a patriotic French police inspector.
A common mix-up is Belgium, because Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot—another famous fictional detective associated with a distinctive accent—is Belgian. Clouseau, however, is French. The role was also played by Steve Martin in the 2006 reboot and its 2009 sequel.