The Pink Panther is a fictional animated character who appears in the opening and/or closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau.[1] In the storyline of the original film, the "Pink Panther" is the name of a valuable pink diamond named for a flaw that shows a "figure of a springing panther" when held up to the light in a certain way; in the credits this was translated to an animated pink panther. Only the first Pink Panther film and the second sequel, The Return of the Pink Panther, featured the diamond.

The character's popularity spawned a spin-off franchise of theatrical shorts, television cartoons and merchandise. He starred in 124 short films, four TV series and four TV specials. The character is closely associated with "The Pink Panther Theme", composed by Henry Mancini.

The first entry in the series, 1964's The Pink Phink, featured Pink harassing his foil, a little white mustachioed man who is often considered a caricature of Friz Freleng (this character is officially known as The Little Man[2]), by constantly trying to paint the Little Man's blue house pink. The Pink Phinkwon the 1964 Academy Award for Animated Short Film, and subsequent shorts in the series, usually featuring the Pink Panther opposite the Little Man, were successful releases.