Lynne Maria Frederick (25 July 1954 – 27 April 1994) was an English-American film actress, known for her classical beauty and delicate, 'fairytale princess' features. In a career spanning ten years she made about thirty films or television drama appearances, but she is best remembered as the last wife of Peter Sellers. She was married twice after his death.

Biography

Frederick's first marriage, at age 22, was to Peter Sellers on 18 February 1977. The marriage was rocky, and Sellers was reportedly in the process of excluding her from his will a week before he died of a heart attack on 24 July 1980, the day before her 26th birthday. The planned changes to the will not having been finalized, she inherited almost his entire estate worth an estimated £4.5 million (£17,2 million today) while his children, whom he had disinherited, received £800 each (£3 064 today). Despite appeals from a number of Sellers' friends to make a fairer settlement to the children, Frederick refused to give her stepchildren anything. She later won nearly £1 million (£3,2 million today) in a lawsuit against the makers of the Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), made after Sellers's death, claiming the film tarnished her late husband's memory. She reportedly suffered from severe depression because of Sellers's death and attempted suicide numerous times. Over her remaining 14 years following Sellers' death, she reportedly became obsessed by his memory and kept a shrine to him at their Swiss chalet in Gstaad, which she inherited from him.

She briefly married David Frost (on 25 January 1981); they divorced 17 months later. She later married a Californian surgeon and heart specialist, Dr. Barry Unger, in December 1982; they were divorced in 1991. In her last marriage, she bore her only child, Cassie Unger (b. 1983).

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