Which Came First, the Pink Panther Movie or the Cartoon? The Real Story Explained

When I was a kid, I remember my parents watching the old Pink Panther movies featuring the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. My parents, aunts and uncles would be laughing their heads off while they sat around the TV. I could kind of see the humor, but the movies were a little too dry for me back then.

What I did love were the Pink Panther cartoons. I watched those regularly. I always knew the cartoon and the movies had to be connected somehow. I just never understood the details and honestly, as a kid, I didn't care. The big pink cat was enough for me.

I always gravitated towards cartoon characters that were optimists, chill, and even keeled.. even if it was to their detriment at times. The Pink panther was all of these and I was a really big fan. I learned how to draw him at an early age and over the years worked his likeness into many and art project at school, that always ended up earning me easy A's. Heck.. on occasion, I still doodle and sketch him out to this very day.

It was only recently that I finally looked into it and learned the Pink Panther movies actually came first.

The original film, The Pink Panther, came out in 1963 with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. The “Pink Panther” in that movie is not a character. It is the name of a valuable diamond with a pink flaw shaped like a panther inside it.

So where did the animated cat come from?

The studio hired legendary animator Friz Freleng to create a slick animated opening credit sequence for the first movie. That short intro became a hit with audiences and people immediately connected the pink cartoon cat with the movie’s name. The animated panther quickly became more memorable than the gemstone the plot was actually about.

The reaction was strong enough that in 1964 the Pink Panther got his own series of theatrical cartoon shorts. The first one, The PinkPhink, won an Oscar. After that, the character took off on his own path. That being.. Saturday morning cartoons. Meanwhile the Clouseau movies continued as their own comedy series with no real connection to the cartoon world.

The real timeline is simple.

Movie in 1963 with animated intro. The cartoon series in 1964.

One stylish credit sequence accidentally launched an entire cartoon franchise. I'm sure there are more cartoons that began similarly. If you know of any, drop them below in the comments!