The late Peter Sellers (The Mouse That Roared, Being There, the Pink Panther movies) was a monumentally gifted comic actor. He was also a passionate follower of astrology. Sellers had his own personal astrologer, and would never take on a project without first consulting his guru.
This story was told to me by Peter Sellers’ agent, whose name was Dennis.
Dennis informs Sellers of a new movie offer, laying out all the details – the nature of the role, the fee, the dates they’d be filming, everything. Sellers remains impassive, telling Dennis he’ll give him his decision after running the proposition by his astrologer.
Sellers calls his astrologer, and tells him about the movie offer. The astrologer instructs Sellers to sit tight. He’ll study Sellers’ chart, and get back to him with his advice.
The astrologer immediately calls Dennis.
“Is it a good offer?”
“It’s a great offer.”
“Fine.”
The astrologer calls Sellers back and tells him to take the job.
Apparently, Sellers never caught on. As far as he knew, he was responding to the direction of his astrological guru, when, in truth, he was simply listening to his agent.
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5 comments:
Did the agent get a piece of the astrologer's fee?
I suspect the real question to ask is if the astrologer ever got a piece of Dennis' fee....
Back in the first days of computer setting for books, I had occasion to do one of those yearly books some of the more famous astrologers do. Each day was supposed to fit on to a single page. With one author, that seemed a hard target to meet. So, I, the non-believer, had to re-write more than a few paragraphs to make things fit. I probably averaged two sign paragraphs a page. In a LOT of cases, the general suggestions might have got changed around a fair bit.
And I never got caught nor got a complaint from a reader.
As Isaac Asimov once pointed out, the gravitational fields of your mom's doctors and any nurses in the immediate vicinity was greater than the sum total of the other eight ... errr seven planets out there.
In fact, I was born in the sign of the skinny nurse with the fat doctor rising!
And now Steve Martin has made Pink Panther 2. Cringe. Surely a sign of the coming Apocalypse...
I am a Virgo. Virgos are very cynical, hence I don't believe in Astrology.
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