The real Peter Sellers

But off-screen Peter Sellers was an unfunny, volatile, grudge-bearing obsessive who often threatened to alienate even his most loyal friends and admirers.

This is not just the judgment passed by a multi-million-pound film based on a controversial biography of the comic genius but also that of one of his closest confidantes.

John Hester, vicar of Brighton between 1975 and 1985 and later canon of Chichester Cathedral, was a long-time friend of Sellers and his four wives, including Swedish glamour-puss Britt Ekland.

Sellers, who made his name with The Goons before enjoying Hollywood success with films such as the Pink Panther series and Dr Strangelove, regularly turned to John for spiritual advice and debate.

John, 77, of Church Lane, Oving, near Chichester, first met him in 1958 through his work with the Actors' Church Union in the West End.

Sellers, after performing with fellow Goons Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, sought John out for moral guidance and philosophical discussion.

The priest and the performer forged a strong bond.

John attended Sellers' marriage to Ekland - his second wife- and christened and became godparent to their daughter Victoria.

He flew to Los Angeles, somewhat unexpectedly at his own expense, to minister to Sellers after his first heart attack in April 1964.

When another heart attack proved fatal in July 1980, John conducted a modest funeral for Sellers, 54, at Golders Green.

While John is unsparing in his analysis of Sellers' complicated, sometimes unpleasant, personality, he fears the forthcoming biopic will neglect his friend's many admirable qualities.

The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers stars Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron as Sellers and Ekland, and English actress Emily Watson as his long-suffering first wife, Anne Howe.

The movie, recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, is based on a biography by Roger Lewis.

Sellers' son Michael has criticised both book and film for being too harsh and Ekland has threatened legal action for the "inaccurate" portrayal of her relationship with Sellers.

Both book and film portray Sellers as a childish, neurotic, mother's-boy bully who abuses drugs and sex as he struggles to cope with his burgeoning fame.

One scene in the film shows Sellers stamping on his young son's toys after the boy helpfully painted a racing stripe over a scratch on his car.

The film also shows Sellers falling hopelessly in love with Sophia Loren, his co-star in 1960 international hit The Millionairess, then pathetically turning to her understudy when he was rejected.

John has co-operated with several authors on Sellers biographies, including the late film critic Alexander Walker.

Although he accepted an invitation from Lewis to help, he never heard back from the author before the book was published in 1994 and was dismayed by the results.

He said: "He made out Sellers was a madman, which he certainly wasn't. The only word you could use to properly describe him would be genius.

"Peter could be tortured and volatile - more so than most artists - and he lost friends very easily.

"He had a small circle, including Milligan and Secombe, who stayed loyal to him. We forgave him his obvious failings and treasured the rest, because he had so many positive qualities. He was never funny in his private life. He was a very serious man. But he was intelligent and very easy to talk to.

"He was loyal to his friends, too. He would always get parts in his films for people like Graham Stark and David Lodge, friends from his RAF days."

One of his most annoying traits, for directors, at least, was not a tendency towards on-set tantrums but his infectious giggling which meant short scenes would take hours to shoot.

"He was a spiritual man, without being committed to any particular religion. His father was Church of England, his mother was Jewish but he was also very influenced by a Roman Catholic priest at his London school."

John proved useful when Sellers was researching his role as a priest in the 1963 Boulting Brothers comedy, Heaven's Above. He said: "While he wanted to know what it was like to play a Church of England clergyman, his actual portrayal was nothing like me."

Sellers was known for obsessively immersing himself in his characters. He is said to have remained in character as the eccentric Dr Strangelove when his mother visited the set for lunch and once drove an airline attendant crazy by playing Clouseau throughout a flight.

After John became rector of Soho in 1963, he began a series of religious classes which Sellers attended.

Unable to make one because he was filming the Woody Allen comedy What's New, Pussycat? in France, he invited John to his five-star hotel in Paris to continue their discussions.

After the breakdown of Sellers' marriage to Anne Howe, the mother of his first two children Michael and Sarah, he married Ekland in February 1964 after a whirlwind 11-day romance.

He was 38, she was 21. The marriage lasted four years, before she divorced him citing "emotional cruelty".

Ekland had to return their wedding ring to royal jeweller Garrard's because he stamped on it so often during their arguments.

John, who went to the reception in Guildford, said: "She was a very nice girl but very young. He was more mature and worldly-wise."

Just two months into the marriage, Sellers suffered his first heart attack.

John said: "I took it upon myself to go across and visit him in hospital in LA. I anointed him, even though he was Jewish. I assumed the good Lord would understand."

John paid his own expenses for the trip and assumed the Hollywood star would pick up the tab. He said: "Years and years later, Sellers said to me, 'You must have wondered why I didn't make it good to you. I told him yes, and he said, 'I think if I had done, it would have spoilt it.' He was touched by the fact, even on my modest salary, I was willing to invest the money with no guarantee of return. I felt really quite flattered."

Sellers' ambiguous approach to money was illustrated by the contrast between his spendthrift approach to cars and cameras and his agonising about his quickly-found wealth.

John remembers a lunch they shared at a well-heeled restaurant in Soho. He said: "We were talking about the effect money has. He said the trouble with having money was you could never get a genuine response you could trust from anyone any more."

Sellers summoned a waiter and demanded a drink be made up exactly to his demand - 40 per cent vodka, 40 per cent orange juice, and ten per cent Campari.

John said: "The head waiter stood there for a minute or two, then went away and came back with a big jug of this concoction.

"Peter tasted it, said 'That's exactly right' and, after thanking him, the waiter backed off. Peter said to me, 'You see what I mean?' There was no way the waiter was going to tell a man such as this that 40, 40 and ten didn't add up to 100 per cent."

Southsea-born Sellers had played drums, banjo and ukelele in jazz bands during his teens, before becoming an official RAF concert entertainer between 1943 and 1946.

He secured a spot on the BBC programme Show Time, before winning acclaim as a master impressionist on the long-running Crazy People, later renamed The Goon Show.

Early film successes included his role as a hapless teddy boy in the 1955 Ealing classic, The Ladykillers.

His first major US success was the 1959 The Mouse That Roared, followed by The Millionairess in 1960 and Dr Strangelove in 1964, which brought his first Oscar nomination.

Clouseau made his screen debut in 1963's The Pink Panther, followed by A Shot In The Dark (1964), The Return Of The Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) and Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978).

John said: "The Clouseau character was the height of his achievement."