Ustinov also displayed a unique cultural versatility which frequently earned him the accolade of aRenaissance man.Miklós Rózsa, composer of the music forQuo Vadis and of numerous concert works, dedicated his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 22 (1950) to Ustinov.
An intellectual and diplomat, Ustinov held various academic posts, and served as agoodwill ambassador forUNICEF and president of theWorld Federalist Movement (WFM). In 2003,Durham University changed the name of its Graduate Society toUstinov College, in honour of the significant contributions Ustinov had made as chancellor of the university from 1992 until his death.
Peter AlexanderFreiherr von Ustinov was born on 16 April 1921 at 45Belsize Park,London.[1] His father,Jona Freiherr von Ustinov, was ofRussian,German,Polish,Ethiopian, andJewish descent. Ustinov's paternal grandfather wasBaronPlato von Ustinov, aRussian noble, and his grandmother was Magdalena Hall, of mixed German-Ethiopian-Jewish origin.[2] Ustinov's great-grandfatherMoritz Hall, a Jewish refugee fromKraków and later a Christian convert and colleague of Swiss and German missionaries in Ethiopia, married into a German-Ethiopian family.[3]Ustinov's paternal great-great-grandparents (through Magdalena's mother) were the German painter Eduard Zander and theEthiopian aristocrat Court-Lady Isette-Werq ofGondar.[4]
Jona (or Iona) worked as a press officer at theGerman embassy in London in the 1930s and was a reporter for a German news agency. In 1935, two years afterAdolf Hitlercame to power in Germany, Jona von Ustinov began working for the British intelligence serviceMI5 and became aBritish subject, thus avoiding internment during the war. Ustinov claimed that the statutory notice of his application for citizenship was published in aWelsh newspaper so as not to alert the Germans;[7] notice of "Iona von Ustinow"'s intention to apply fornaturalisation was published in a London newspaper in July 1935[8] and his naturalisation gazetted in December.[9] He was the controller ofWolfgang Gans zu Putlitz, an MI5 spy in the German embassy in London, who furnished information on Hitler's intentions before theSecond World War.[10] (Peter Wright mentions in his bookSpycatcher 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 atWestminster 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'".[11] In his late teens he trained as an actor at theLondon Theatre Studio.[12] While there, on 18 July 1938 he made his first appearance on the stage at the Barn Theatre,Shere, playing Waffles in Chekhov'sThe Wood Demon,[12] and his London stage début later that year at thePlayers' 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".[11]
Ustinov appeared inWhite Cargo at theAylesbury Rep in 1939, where he performed in a different accent every night.[13] He served as aprivate in theBritish Army during the Second World War, including time spent asbatman toDavid Niven while writing the Niven filmThe Way Ahead. The difference in their ranks—Niven was alieutenant-colonel and Ustinov a private—made their regular association militarily impossible; to solve the problem, Ustinov was appointed as Niven's batman.[14] He also appeared in propaganda films, debuting inOne of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), in which he was required to deliver lines in English, Latin and Dutch. In 1944, under the auspices ofEntertainments National Service Association, he presented and performed the role of Sir Anthony Absolute, inSheridan'sThe Rivals, withDame Edith Evans, at the theatre in Larkhill Camp, Wiltshire, England.
Ustinov won Academy Awards forBest Supporting Actor for his roles inSpartacus (1960) andTopkapi (1964). He also won a Golden Globe award for Best Supporting Actor for the filmQuo 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.
His autobiography,Dear Me (1977), was well received and had him describe his life (ostensibly his childhood) while being interrogated by his own ego, with forays into philosophy, theatre, fame, and self-realisation. From 1969 until his death, his acting and writing took second place to his work on behalf ofUNICEF, for which he was a goodwill ambassador and fundraiser. In this role, he visited some of the neediest children and made use of his ability to make people laugh, including many of the world's most disadvantaged children. "Sir Peter could make anyone laugh", UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy is quoted as saying.[17] On 31 October 1984, Ustinov was due to interviewPrime Minister of IndiaIndira Gandhi forIrish television. She wasassassinated on her way to the meeting.[18]
Ustinov served as president of theWorld Federalist Movement (WFM) from 1991 until his death. He once said, "World government is not only possible, it is inevitable, and when it comes, it will appeal to patriotism in its truest, in its only sense, the patriotism of men who love their national heritages so deeply that they wish to preserve them in safety for the common good".[19]
He was the subject ofThis Is Your Life on two occasions, in November 1977 when he was surprised byEamonn Andrews atPinewood Studios on the set ofDeath on the Nile. He was surprised again in December 1994, whenMichael Aspel approached him at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. A car enthusiast since the age of four, he owned a succession of interesting machines ranging from aFiat Topolino, severalLancias, aHispano-Suiza, apreselector gearboxDelage, and a special-bodiedJowett Jupiter. He made records like Phoney Folklore that included the song of the Russian peasant "whose tractor had betrayed him" and his "Grand Prix of Gibraltar" was a vehicle for his creative wit and ability at car-engine sound effects and voices.[citation needed]
He spoke English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Russian fluently, as well as some Turkish and modern Greek. He was proficient in accents and dialects in all his languages. Ustinov provided his own German and French dubbing for some of his roles, both of them forLorenzo's Oil. AsHercule Poirot, he provided his own voice for the French versions ofThirteen at Dinner,Dead Man's Folly,Murder in Three Acts,Appointment with Death, andEvil under the Sun, but unlikeJane Birkin, who had dubbed herself in French for this film andDeath on the Nile, Ustinov did not provide his voice for the latter (his French voice being provided byRoger Carel, who had already dubbed him inSpartacus and other films). He dubbed himself in German as Poirot only inEvil under the Sun (his other Poirot roles being undertaken by three actors). However, he provided only his English and German voices forDisney'sRobin Hood andNBC'sAlice in Wonderland.[20]
In the 1960s, he became a Swiss resident. He wasknighted in 1990 and was appointedchancellor ofDurham University in 1992, having previously been elected as the firstrector of theUniversity of Dundee in 1968 (a role in which he moved from being merely a figurehead to taking on a political role, negotiating with student protesters).[21] Ustinov was re-elected to the post for a second three-year term in 1971, narrowly beatingMichael Parkinson after a disputed recount.[22][23] He received an honorary doctorate from theVrije Universiteit Brussel.
Peter Ustinov photographed byOliver Mark, Berlin 2003
Ustinov was a frequent defender of the Chinese government, stating in an address to Durham University in 2000, "People are annoyed with the Chinese for not respecting more human rights. But with a population that size it's very difficult to have the same attitude to human rights."[citation needed] In 2003, Durham's postgraduate college (previously known as the Graduate Society) was renamedUstinov College. Ustinov went toBerlin on a UNICEF mission in 2002 to visit the circle ofUnited Buddy Bears that promote a more peaceful world between nations, cultures, and religions for the first time. He was determined to ensure thatIraq would also be represented in this circle of about 140 countries. Ustinov also presented and narrated the official video review of the1987 Formula One season and narrated the documentary seriesWings of the Red Star. In 1988, he hosted a live television broadcast entitledThe Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper. Ustinov gave his name to the Foundation of theInternational Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for theirSir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, given annually to a young television screenwriter.
Ustinov was married three times—first to Isolde Denham (1920–1987), daughter ofReginald Denham andMoyna Macgill. The marriage lasted from 1940 to their divorce in 1950, and they had one child, daughterTamara Ustinov. Isolde was the half-sister ofAngela Lansbury, who appeared with Ustinov inDeath on the Nile.
His second marriage was toSuzanne Cloutier, which lasted from 1954 to their divorce in 1971. They had three children: two daughters, Pavla Ustinov and Andrea Ustinov, and a son,Igor Ustinov. Both Pavla and Andrea are actresses; Pavla appeared with her father inThe Thief of Baghdad.
His third marriage was to Helene du Lau d'Allemans, which lasted from 1972 to his death in 2004.[24]
Ustinov suffered fromdiabetes and a weakened heart in his last years.[27]
In 1999, Sir Peter and his son Igor Ustinov founded the Sir Peter Ustinov Stiftung (Sir Peter Ustinov Foundation) in the city ofMunich inGermany. The foundation is now based inFrankfurt am Main.[28]
Ustinov died on 28 March 2004 of heart failure in a clinic inGenolier, near his home inBursins, Switzerland, aged 82. He had suffered from diabetes and heart disease.[29][30][31]
Ustinov found his final resting place at the cemetery. His ledger stone bears a cross, despite his self-description as a secular humanist, and the inscription:
^Miller, Gertrude M. (1971).BBC pronouncing dictionary of British names (The pronunciations were accepted by Sir Peter himself). British Broadcasting Corporation. London: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-431125-0.OCLC154639.
^For his biography, with references to archival documentation and publications on him and his family, see Holtz: "Hall, Moritz", in: Siegbert Uhlig (ed.):Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 2, Wiesbaden 2005. Also, a family photo shows Ustinov's grandmother with her husband and their children, including Ustinov's father Jona.
^abIan 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
^Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003).Terror in the mind of God: the global rise of religious violence (3rd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN978-0-520-93061-2.OCLC779141234.
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