Sellers was staying at London’s Dorchester Hotel when he had a major heart attack on July 22, 1980. The actor was taken to Middlesex Hospital where he died two days later (via BBC). According to an article written by film critic Roger Ebert, Sellers’ fourth wife, actress Lynne Frederick, his second wife, actress Britt Ekland, and Sellers’ and Ekland’s daughter, Victoria, were with him at the end. A hospital spokesperson explained that “his heart just faded away. His condition deteriorated very rapidly.” This fatal heart attack came only days before Sellers was set to have heart surgery in Los Angeles.

Married four times, Sellers was actually estranged from Lynne Frederick when he died. It was later discovered that he was trying to change his will on the day he had his heart attack, according to a BBC report. Sellers had wanted to prevent Frederick receiving all of his fortune and to give more to his daughter Victoria. But this letter was not disclosed at the time of his death. Frederick inherited the bulk of Sellers’s estate, and his three children each received a nominal sum. (Sellers had a son, Michael, and a daughter, Sarah, with his first wife, Anne Howe.)

Sellers’ legacy is a complicated one, much like the man himself. He will be remembered for his incredible comedic talents as well as his stormy personal life. As Britt Ekland later told the Guardian that “he was a very tormented soul who should have had more help.”