Unfinalised divorce saw Peter Sellers's wife inherit £4.5m

Peter Sellers's fourth wife Lynne Frederick received over ten times more by inheriting from his estate than she would have if their planned divorce had gone through before he died, it has emerged.

Legal papers being sold at Devizes in Wiltshire next week reveal a settlement was reached between the couple in 1979 that would have seen Frederick given a one-off payment of £375,000, the Times reports.

However, Sellers - the star of The Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove - died in July 1980 before the agreement could be finalised, leading to his estranged wife claiming his entire £4.5 million fortune.

Frederick, herself an actress who was once also married to Sir David Frost, benefited further from the estate in 1985 when she was awarded $1 million (£601,000) in damages after a judge ruled footage of her deceased husband was used illegally without her consent in the film The Trail of the Pink Panther.

The money was passed on to her daughter by a different marriage when she died in 1994. By comparison, Sellers's three children - all from previous wives - received £750 each on his death. ADNFCR-2353-ID-19445221-ADNFCR

05/11/2009 14:53

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