Peter Ustinov Is Dead

Actor and raconteur Sir Peter Ustinov has died at the age of 82 in Switzerland. Sir Peter Ustinov was born in London in 1921 to Russian igré parents and achieved early success as an actor, appearing in his first play at the age of 17. Despite a break for military service (where he acted as batman to one Lieutenant Colonel David Niven) he sold his first screenplay at 24 and directed his first film at 25 – earning him comparisons to Orson Welles. As an actor, he was perhaps best known for his character and supporting roles, including two Oscar winning turns in Spartacus in 1960 and Topkapi in 1964. In 1962, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the well-received Billy Budd, and in 1978 provided the benchmark against which all screen Poirots are judged in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. He was most recently seen in Lorenzo’s Oil and The Bachelor, and on TV in The Salem Witch Trials. He once appeared in a credit card advert, but said of it, “The only reason I made an American Express commercial was to pay for my American Express Bill.” Something of a Renaissance man, Ustinov wrote several plays and novels, including two volumes of memoirs. He spoke English, German, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish fluently, with a smattering of Turkish and Greek. Knighted in 1990, he was also a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF from 1971. Accolades flooded in for Sir Peter today after news of his death last night in Switzerland was announced. Michael Winner, who worked with Ustinov on Appointment with Death, one of his Poirot films, said of his star, “He had this great eccentricity - he could say lines that were very tedious, but he could say them with a wit that made them interesting". Sir Peter Ustinov is survived by his wife and four children.