He was the Chief Inspector in The Pink Panther movies, sure. But more importantly, he was the child of Karl ze Schluderpacheru and his spouse Olga née Gottlieb who were members of Austrian nobility. If that's not celebrity, then we don't know what is.
He was decorated as a World War I flying ace, won an Academy Award for his screen adaptation of Pygmalion and also wrote 19 novels, but he'll be best remembered for the endearing relationship he shared with Beany.
(d) January 27th, 1997