Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Raise your glass and add some Henry Mancini to your playlist today. Burt Kwouk, who played the role of Inspector Clouseau’s dedicated manservant and martial-arts expert Cato Fong in the Pink Panther film series, has died at the age of 85. Appearing in seven Pink Panther films from 1963 to 1993 — alongside Peter Sellers, Roger Moore, and Roberto Benigni — Kwouk’s Cato was memorably tasked with acting as an assailant who unexpectedly attacked Clouseau at inconvenient times throughout the day as a way to always keep his master alert and sharp. (Clouseau, though, would often prove victorious with a final post-fight punch.) Besides Panther, Kwouk had a solid film and television career, appearing in titles such as Goldfinger, Tenko, Doctor Who, Last of the Summer Wine, and The Harry Hill Show. His contributions to the arts netted him an OBE in 2011, which was presented by Prince Charles. “Beloved actor Burt Kwouk has sadly passed peacefully away,” said a statement obtained by BBC News. “The family will be having a private funeral but there will be a memorial at a later date.”