In the film "Being There," Peter Sellers is a gardener who is named ....?

Actor Peter Sellers was particularly touched by the success of "Being There." He heavily identified with his role as Chance. He liked the idea that Chance's fate is to be what others want/need him to be. It was stated publicly that Sellers was determined to play the role in the film, although it took about seven years for the film project get off the ground.

In this movie, Chance the Gardener is a middle-aged, mentally-challenged man who has never been outside of the elegant townhouse where he lives. He is there by orders of its owner "The Old Man". He has only two pastimes in life: gardening and watching television. Not long after the story opens, the Old Man is discovered dead.

In the aftermath Chance is told about the Old Man by lawyers, who come to close the house. They have no record of a gardener being employed there, much less living there - he must leave. Thus he packs a suitcase of clothes, his TV remote control, and heads out into the world. Soon enough, he is accidentally struck by a limousine and his leg is injured. The passenger, Eve Rand, happens to be the wife of an elderly, dying financial titan, Ben. Since the Rand mansion is now partially set up as a hospital, Eve invites Chance to recover there. On the ride over, she mishears his name as "Chauncey Gardiner." Though honest by nature, he doesn't realize she's making a mistake, and things snowball from there.