English-born Sir Peter Ustinov, an extraordinarily talented man, was an Academy award-winning actor, author, playwright, film director and producer. He was also an autobiographer, chat-show guest, presenter and narrator of official video reviews, a raconteur of one-man show. He was known for "Peter Ustinov Quotes."
He has two novellas: The Disinformer and The Old Man and Mr. Smith. His autobiography Dear Me (1977) was well-received.
Ustinov Lineage and Family
Alexander Baron Von Ustinov (1921-2004) was born in London, England. His father, Jona Baron Von Ustinov, an officer of the Russian Czar's army, was of Russian and German descent and his mother, Nadia L. Benoit, was a painter and ballet designer of Russian, French, and Italian ancestry. Ustinov married thrice and had four children. He was a linguist, who spoke French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, and some Turkish and modern Greek, aside from English.
Early Career of Peter Ustinov
Ustinov made his stage debut when he was 17. Two years later, he appeared in his first film. In his early 20s, as a private soldier during World War II, he busied himself preparing for the screenplay of The Way Ahead, with David Niven and Eric Ambler, released in 1944. It was his first major screen credit. After his military service in World War II, he started writing and making films.
Film writer, director and actor, Hercule Poirot
- Radio comedy, starred alongside Peter Jones in the much-loved BBC radio comedy In All Directions
- Film actor including the Oscar nominated Quo Vadis?
- Dramatist alongside his acting career.
- Film role as Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot in adaptations of Agatha Christie novels, including Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil under the Sun (1981).
Works by Ustinov
- The Love of Four Colonels
- Romanoff and Juliet
- Photo Finish
- The Unknown Soldier and His Wife
- Overheard
He became a Swiss citizen in the late 1960s. During the later part of his life, from 1969 until his death in 2004, he worked tirelessly as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. With his ability to be funny, he became a best friend of the disadvantaged children wherever he went. Aged 83, he died from heart failure in Genolier, near his home in Bursins, Vaud, Switzerland.
Ustinov Awards and Recognition
- Winner, Oscar Academy Award for Best supporting Actor in Spartacus (1960); Winner, Oscar Academy Award for Best supporting Actor in Topkapi (1964)
- Winner, Golden Globe award for Best supporting Actor for Quo Vadis
- Winner, three Emmy
- Winner, one Grammy
- Nominated, two Tony
- Awarded a CBE, 1975
- Knighted, 1990
- Appointed Chancellor of the University of Durham in 1992. In 2003, Durham's postgraduate college was renamed Ustinov College.
- Served as Rector of the University of Dundee in the later 1970s.
- Peter Ustinov graciously endorsed his name to the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation for their prestigious Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, awarded annually to a young television screenwriter.
Source:
Dictionary of Writers, Ed. by Rosemary Goring (Larousse, 1994)
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