Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. An intellectual and diplomat, he held various academic posts and served as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and president of the World Federalist Movement.

Ustinov was the winner of numerous awards during his life, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and BAFTA Awards for acting, and a Grammy Award for best recording for children, as well as the recipient of governmental honours from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He also displayed a unique cultural versatility which frequently earned him the accolade of a Renaissance man. Miklós Rózsa, composer of the music for ''Quo Vadis'' and of numerous concert works, dedicated his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 22 (1950) to Ustinov.

In 2003, Durham University changed the name of its Graduate Society to Ustinov College in honour of the significant contributions Ustinov had made as chancellor of the university from 1992 until his death.

Early life

Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov was born at 45 Belsize Park, London, England. His father, Jona Freiherr von Ustinov, was of Russian, German, Polish, Ethiopian and Jewish descent. Peter's paternal grandfather was Baron Plato von Ustinov, a Russian noble, and his grandmother was Magdalena Hall, of mixed German-Ethiopian-Jewish origin. Ustinov's great-grandfather Moritz Hall, a Jewish refugee from Kraków and later a Christian convert and colleague of Swiss and German missionaries in Ethiopia, married into a German-Ethiopian family.
Peter's paternal great-great-grandparents (through Magdalena's mother) were the German painter Eduard Zander and the Ethiopian aristocrat Court-Lady Isette-Werq of Gondar.

Ustinov's mother, Nadezhda Leontievna Benois, known as Nadia, was a painter and ballet designer of French, German, Italian, and Russian descent. Her father, Leon Benois, was an Imperial Russian architect and owner of Leonardo da Vinci's painting ''Benois Madonna''. Leon's brother Alexandre Benois was a stage designer who worked with Stravinsky and Diaghilev. Their paternal ancestor Jules-César Benois was a chef who had left France for St. Petersburg during the French Revolution and became a chef to Emperor Paul I of Russia.

Jona (or Iona) worked as a press officer at the German Embassy in London in the 1930s and was a reporter for a German news agency. In 1935, two years after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Jona von Ustinov began working for the British intelligence service MI5 and became a British citizen, thus avoiding internment during the war. The statutory notice of his application for citizenship was published in a Welsh newspaper so as not to alert the Germans. He was the controller of Wolfgang Gans zu Putlitz, an MI5 spy in the German embassy in London, who furnished information on Hitler's intentions before the Second World War. ( Peter Wright mentions in his book '' Spycatcher'' that Jona was possibly the spy known as U35; Ustinov says in his autobiography that his father hosted secret meetings of senior British and German officials at their London home).

Ustinov was educated at Westminster School and had a difficult childhood because of his parents' constant fighting. While at school, Ustinov considered anglicising his name to "Peter Austin", but was counselled against it by a fellow pupil who said that he should "Drop the 'von' but keep the 'Ustinov. In his late teens he trained as an actor at the London Theatre Studio.Ian Herbert, Christine Baxter, Robert E. Finley, ''Who's Who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage'', Volume 16 (Pitman, 1977), p. 1202 While there, on 18 July 1938 he made his first appearance on the stage at the Barn Theatre, Shere, playing Waffles in Chekhov’s '' The Wood Demon'', and his London stage début later that year at the Players' Theatre, becoming quickly established. He later wrote, "I was not irresistibly drawn to the drama. It was an escape road from the dismal rat race of school".

Career highlights

In 1939, he appeared in ''White Cargo'' at the Aylesbury Rep, where he performed in a different accent every night. Ustinov served as a private in the British Army during the Second World War, including time spent as batman to David Niven while writing the Niven film ''The Way Ahead''. The difference in their ranksNiven was a lieutenant-colonel and Ustinov a privatemade their regular association militarily impossible; to solve the problem, Ustinov was appointed as Niven's batman. He also appeared in propaganda films, debuting in ''One of Our Aircraft Is Missing'' (1942), in which he was required to deliver lines in English, Latin, and Dutch. In 1944, under the auspices of Entertainments National Service Association, he presented and performed the role of Sir Anthony Absolute, in Sheridan's ''The Rivals'', with Dame Edith Evans, at the theatre in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, England.

After the war, he began writing; his first major success was with the play ''The Love of Four Colonels'' (1951). He starred with Humphrey Bogart and Aldo Ray in '' We're No Angels'' (1955). His career as a dramatist continued, his best-known play being '' Romanoff and Juliet'' (1956). His film roles include Roman emperor Nero in ''Quo Vadis'' (1951), Lentulus Batiatus in ''Spartacus'' (1960), Captain Blackbeard in the Disney film '' Blackbeard’s Ghost'' (1968), and an old man surviving a totalitarian future in ''Logan's Run'' (1976). Ustinov voiced the anthropomorphic lions Prince John and King Richard in the 1973 Disney animated film ''Robin Hood''. He also worked on several films as writer and occasionally director, including ''The Way Ahead'' (1944), ''School for Secrets'' (1946), ''Hot Millions'' (1968), and ''Memed, My Hawk'' (1984).

In half a dozen films, he played Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot, first in ''Death on the Nile'' (1978) and then in 1982's '' Evil Under the Sun'', 1985's '' Thirteen at Dinner'' (TV movie), 1986's ''Dead Man's Folly'' (TV movie), 1986's ''Murder in Three Acts'' (TV movie), and 1988's ''Appointment with Death''.

Ustinov won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in ''Spartacus'' (1960) and '' Topkapi'' (1964). He also won a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor for the film ''Quo Vadis'' (he set the Oscar and Globe statuettes up on his desk as if playing doubles tennis; the game was a love of his life, as was ocean yachting). Ustinov was also the winner of three Emmys and one Grammy and was nominated for two Tony Awards.

Between 1952 and 1955, he starred with Peter Jones in the BBC
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