Blake Edwards dead at 88

By Liz Kelly



Blake Edwards, a 2001 Kennedy Center Honoree, with wife Julie Andrews. (AP)

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."

From Variety.com:

"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:

Source: Variety.com (subscription required)

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