Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Ustinov CBE FRSA
Ustinov in 1986, photographed by Allan Warren
Born	Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov (1921-04-16)16 April 1921 Belsize Park, London, England
Died	28 March 2004(2004-03-28) (aged 82) Genolier, Switzerland
Resting place	Bursins Cemetery, Bursins, Switzerland
Nationality	British
Education	Westminster School London Theatre Studio
Occupations	Actor filmmaker writer
Years active	1938–2004
Spouses	Isolde Denham ​ ​ (m. 1940; div. 1950)​ Suzanne Cloutier ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1971)​ Helene du Lau d'Allemans ​ ​ (m. 1972)​
Children	4, including Tamara Ustinov
Parents	Jona von Ustinov Nadia Benois
Awards	See Awards

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE FRSA (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov /ˈ(j)uːstɪnɒf/; 16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. As 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. 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

Ustinov as Nero in Quo Vadis (1951)

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 ranks‍—‌Niven was a lieutenant-colonel and Ustinov a private‍—‌made 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).

Ustinov (left) as Hercule Poirot with John Gielgud in Appointment with Death (1988)

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 in The Sundowners (1960)

Oona O'Neill, Charles Chaplin, and Ustinov in 1965

Ustinov in 1986

Ustinov in 1965

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 radio comedy In All Directions. The series featured Ustinov and Jones as themselves in a London car journey perpetually searching for Copthorne Avenue. The comedy derived from the characters they met, whom they often also portrayed. The show was unusual for the time, as it was improvised rather than scripted. Ustinov and Jones improvised on a tape, which was difficult, and then edited for broadcast by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, who also sometimes took part.

During the 1960s, with the encouragement of Sir Georg Solti, Ustinov directed several operas, including Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Ravel's L'heure espagnole, Schoenberg's Erwartung, and Mozart's The Magic Flute. Further demonstrating his great talent and versatility in the theatre, Ustinov later undertook set and costume design for Don Giovanni. In 1962 he adapted Louis O. Coxe and Robert H. Chapman's critically successful Broadway play Billy Budd into a film; penning the screenplay, producing, directing, and starring as Captain Fairfax.

In 1968, he was elected the first rector of the University of Dundee and served two consecutive three-year terms.

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 of UNICEF, 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. On 31 October 1984, Ustinov was due to interview Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi for Irish television. She was assassinated on her way to the meeting.

Ustinov also served as president of the World Federalist Movement 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".

He was a frequent guest of Jack Paar's Tonight Show in the early 1960s and was a guest on the "upside down" episode of the American talk show Late Night, during which the camera, mounted on a slowly revolving wheel, gradually rotated the picture 360° during the course of an hour; Ustinov appeared midway through and was photographed upside down in close-up as he spoke, while his host appeared only in long shots. Towards the end of Ustinov's life, he undertook some one-man stage shows in which he let loose his raconteur streak; he told the story of his life, including some moments of tension with the society into which he was born. For example, he took a test as a child, asking him to name a Russian composer; he wrote Rimsky-Korsakov, but was marked down. He was then told the correct answer, Tchaikovsky, since he had been studying him in class and was told to stop showing off.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in November 1977 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at Pinewood Studios on the set of Death on the Nile and a week before, he was surprised at a book signing at book printers Butler and Tanner in Frome, Somerset. This footage was not used, as Ustinov flatly refused to take part and swore at Andrews. His wife persuaded him to change his mind. He was surprised again in December 1994, when Michael 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 a Fiat Topolino, several Lancias, a Hispano-Suiza, a preselector gearbox Delage, and a special-bodied Jowett 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.

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 for Lorenzo's Oil. As Hercule Poirot, he provided his own voice for the French versions of Thirteen at Dinner, Dead Man's Folly, Murder in Three Acts, Appointment with Death, and Evil under the Sun, but unlike Jane Birkin, who had dubbed herself in French for this film and Death on the Nile, Ustinov did not provide his voice for the latter (his French voice being provided by Roger Carel, who had already dubbed him in Spartacus and other films). He dubbed himself in German as Poirot only in Evil under the Sun (his other Poirot roles being undertaken by three actors). However, he provided only his English and German voices for Disney's Robin Hood and NBC's Alice in Wonderland.

Ustinov in 1992 by Erling Mandelmann

In the 1960s, he became a Swiss resident. He was knighted in 1990 and was appointed chancellor of Durham University in 1992, having previously been elected as the first rector of the University 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). Ustinov was re-elected to the post for a second three-year term in 1971, narrowly beating Michael Parkinson after a disputed recount. He received an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

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." In 2003, Durham's postgraduate college (previously known as the Graduate Society) was renamed Ustinov College. Ustinov went to Berlin on a UNICEF mission in 2002 to visit the circle of United Buddy Bears that promote a more peaceful world between nations, cultures, and religions for the first time. He was determined to ensure that Iraq would also be represented in this circle of about 140 countries. Ustinov also presented and narrated the official video review of the 1987 Formula One season and narrated the documentary series Wings of the Red Star. In 1988, he hosted a live television broadcast entitled The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper. Ustinov gave his name to the Foundation of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for their Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award, given annually to a young television screenwriter.

Personal life

Ustinov with Suzanne Cloutier and daughter in the 1950s

Ustinov was married three times—first to Isolde Denham (1920–1987), daughter of Reginald Denham and Moyna Macgill. The marriage lasted from 1940 to their divorce in 1950, and they had one child, daughter Tamara Ustinov. Isolde was the half-sister of Angela Lansbury, who appeared with Ustinov in Death on the Nile. His second marriage was to Suzanne 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 (de). His third marriage was to Helene du Lau d'Allemans, which lasted from 1972 to his death in 2004.

Ustinov was a secular humanist. He was listed as a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association, and had once served on their advisory council.

Ustinov suffered from diabetes and a weakened heart in his last years.

Death

Ustinov died on 28 March 2004 of heart failure in a clinic in Genolier, near his home in Bursins, Switzerland, aged 82. He had suffered from diabetes and heart disease. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy spoke at his funeral, representing United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Globalism

Ustinov was the president of the World Federalist Movement (WFM) from 1991 to 2004, the time of his death. WFM is a global nongovernmental organization that promotes the concept of global democratic institutions. WFM lobbies those in powerful positions to establish a unified human government based on democracy and civil society. Under its plan, the United Nations and other world agencies would become the institutions of a World Federation. The UN would be the federal government and nation states would become similar to provinces.

Until his death, Ustinov was a member of English PEN, part of the PEN International network that campaigns for freedom of expression.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1940	Hullo Fame
1940	Mein Kampf — My Crimes	Marinus van der Lubbe (uncredited)
1942	One of Our Aircraft Is Missing	The Priest	Emeric Pressburger
1942	The Goose Steps Out	Krauss	Basil Dearden
1942	Let the People Sing	Dr. Bentika	John Baxter
1943	The New Lot	Keith (uncredited)
1944	The Way Ahead	Rispoli – Cafe Owner	Carol Reed
1945	The True Glory		Carol Reed
1946	School for Secrets		Peter Ustinov
1946	Carnival		Stanley Haynes
1948	Vice Versa		Peter Ustinov
1949	Private Angelo	Private Angelo	Peter Ustinov
1950	Odette	Lt. Alex Rabinovich / Arnauld	Herbert Wilcox
1951	Hotel Sahara	Emad	Ken Annakin
1951	Quo Vadis	Nero	Mervyn LeRoy
1951	The Magic Box	Industry Man	John Boulting
1952	Pleasure	Narrator (English version, voice, uncredited)
1952	The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird	Wonderbird (English version, voice)	Paul Grimault
1953	Martin Luther	Duke Francis of Luneberg (uncredited)	Irving Pichel
1954	The Egyptian	Kaptah	Michael Curtiz
1954	Beau Brummell	Prince of Wales	Curtis Bernhardt
1955	We're No Angels	Jules	Michael Curtiz
1955	Lola Montès	Circus Master	Max Ophüls
1956	The Wanderers	Don Alfonso Pugliesi	Hugo Fregonese
1957	The Spies	Michel Kiminsky	Henri-Georges Clouzot
1957	The Man Who Wagged His Tail	Mr. Bossi	Ladislao Vajda
1960	Spartacus	Batiatus	Stanley Kubrick
1960	The Sundowners	Rupert Venneker	Fred Zinnemann
1961	Romanoff and Juliet	The General	Peter Ustinov
1962	Billy Budd	Edwin Fairfax Vere – Post Captain Royal Navy	Peter Ustinov
1963	The Human Dutch		Bert Haanstra
1963	Women of the World	Narrator (voice)	Franco Prosperi
1964	Topkapi	Arthur Simon Simpson	Jules Dassin
1964	The Peaches
1965	John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!	King Fawz	J. Lee Thompson
1965	Lady L	Prince Otto of Bavaria (uncredited)	Peter Ustinov
1967	The Comedians	Ambassador Manuel Pineda	Peter Glenville
1968	Blackbeard's Ghost	Captain Blackbeard	Robert Stevenson
1968	Hot Millions	Marcus Pendleton / Caesar Smith	Eric Till
1969	Viva Max!	General Maximilian Rodrigues De Santos	Jerry Paris
1970	The Festival Game
1972	Hammersmith Is Out	Doctor	Peter Ustinov
1972	Big Truck and Sister Clare	Israeli Truck Driver
1973	Robin Hood	Prince John / King Richard (voice)	Wolfgang Reitherman
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing	Hnup Wan	Robert Stevenson
1976	Logan's Run	Old Man	Michael Anderson
1976	Treasure of Matecumbe	Dr. Ewing T. Snodgrass	Vincent McEveety
1977	The Purple Taxi	Taubelman	Yves Boisset
1977	The Mouse and His Child	Manny the Rat (voice)	Charles Swenson Fred Wolf
1977	Double Murder	Harry Hellman	Steno
1977	The Last Remake of Beau Geste	Sgt. Markov	Marty Feldman
1978	Winds of Change	Narrator (voice)	Takashi Masunaga
1978	Death on the Nile	Hercule Poirot	John Guillermin
1978	Thief of Baghdad	The Caliph	Clive Donner
1979	Morte no Tejo
1979	Ashanti	Suleiman	Richard Fleischer
1979	We'll Grow Thin Together	Victor Lasnier
1979	Tarka the Otter	Narrator (voice)	David Cobham
1981	Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen	Charlie Chan	Clive Donner
1981	The Great Muppet Caper	Truck Driver	Jim Henson
1981	Grendel Grendel Grendel	Grendel (voice)	Alexander Stitt
1981	The Search for Santa Claus	Grandfather
1982	Venezia, carnevale – Un amore
1982	Evil Under the Sun	Hercule Poirot	Guy Hamilton
1984	Memed, My Hawk	Abdi Aga
1988	Appointment with Death	Hercule Poirot	Michael Winner
1988	Peep and the Big Wide World		Rick Marshall
1989	La Révolution française	André-Boniface-Louis Riquetti, vicomte de Mirabeau		segment "Les Années Lumière"
1989	Granpa	Granpa (voice)	Dianne Jackson
1990	There Was a Castle with Forty Dogs	Le vétérinaire Muggione	Duccio Tessari
1992	Lorenzo's Oil	Professor Nikolais	George Miller
1993	Glasnost and Glamour''	Narrator / Himself	Patrick Lichfield / Unipart
1995	The Phoenix and the Magic Carpet	Grandfather / Phoenix (voice)
1998	Stiff Upper Lips	Horace	Gary Sinyor
1999	The Bachelor	Grandad James Shannon	Gary Sinyor
2000	My Khmer Heart	himself
2000	Majestät brauchen Sonne
2001	Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures		Jan Harlan
2003	Luther	Frederick the Wise	Eric Till
2004	Siberia: Railroad Through the Wilderness	narrator

Television

• What's My Line? (1957—1966) – gameshow, 9 episodes
• I've Got a Secret (1960) – gameshow, 1 episode
• Barefoot in Athens (1966) – TV film, as Socrates
• Klapzubova jedenáctka (1968) – TV serial, episode 12: "Muži z Ria", as television commentator
• Parkinson (1971—1972) – talk show, 3 episodes
• The Muppet Show (1976) – 1 episode, as himself
• Kein Abend wie jeder andere (1976) – TV film, as owner of Billy's artstore
• Jesus of Nazareth (1977) – miniseries, as Herod the Great
• Doctor Snuggles (1979) – 13 episodes, as Doctor Snuggles
• Einstein's Universe (1979) – documentary film, as himself
• Nuclear Nightmares (1979) – documentary film, as himself
• Omni: The New Frontier (1981)
• Overheard (1984) – TV film, as Comrade Kuruk
• Thirteen at Dinner (1985) – TV film, as Hercule Poirot
• Dead Man's Folly (1986) – TV film, as Hercule Poirot
• Murder in Three Acts (1986) – TV film, as Hercule Poirot
• Peter Ustinov's Russia (1986) – documentary miniseries, as himself
• Le défi mondial (1986)
• An Audience with Peter Ustinov (1988)
• The Secret Identity of Jack the Ripper (1988) – documentary
• Around the World in 80 Days (1989) – miniseries, as Detective Wilbur Fix
• Peter Ustinov on the Orient Express (1991)
• Wings of the Red Star (1993) – documentary series, 13 episodes, as narrator
• Celebrating Haydn with Peter Ustinov (1994) – documentary
• The Old Curiosity Shop (1995) – TV film, as Grandfather
• Paths of the Gods (1995) – documentary series, 8 episodes, as himself
• Sir Peter Ustinov's Mendelssohn (1997) – documentary
• Alice in Wonderland (1999) – TV film, as Walrus
• Animal Farm (1999) – TV film, as Old Major (voice)
• Victoria & Albert (2001) – TV serial, as King William IV
• Winter Solstice (2003 TV Movie) - Hughie McLellan

Nonfiction

• Apropos: portrait painting w:OCLC 502028565
• Dear Me
• Generation at Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

(introduction by Peter Ustinov) (UNICEF) w:OCLC 1124421105

• Klop and the Ustinov Family (with Nadia Benois Ustinov) 1973 w:OCLC 835951
• My Russia
• Niven's Hollywood (introduction by Peter Ustinov)
• Quotable Ustinov
• Still at Large
• Ustinov at Eighty
• Ustinov at Large
• Ustinov in Russia
• Ustinov Still at Large
• Ustinov's diplomats w:OCLC 690371045
• We Were Only Human. w:OCLC 320395513

Novels, novellas, short stories and plays

• Abelard and Heloise
• Add a Dash of Pity and Other Short Stories
• Beethoven's Tenth
• Brewer's Theatre (with Isaacs, et al.)
• The Comedy Collection
• Disinformer: Two Novellas
• Frontiers of the Sea
• God and the State Railways
• Halfway Up the Tree
• The Indifferent Shepherd
• James Thurber with Thurber
• Krumnagel
• The Laughter Omnibus
• Life is an Operetta: And Other Short Stories
• The Loser
• The Love of Four Colonels
• The Methuen Book of Theatre Verse (with Jonathan and Moira Field)
• Monsieur Rene
• The Moment of Truth
• No Sign of the Dove (play, unsuccessful, ran for only a week at the Savoy Theatre c. 1952)
• The Old Man and Mr. Smith: A Fable
• Photo Finish
• Romanoff and Juliet
• The 13 Clocks with James Thurber
• The Unicorn in the Garden and Other Fables for Our Time (with James Thurber)
• The Unknown Soldier and His Wife

Discography

• Grand Prix of Gibraltar (1960) (spoken word comedy)
• The Creatures of Prometheus (Ludwig van Beethoven), a musical narration – RCA Red Seal 74321 82163 2 (2001)
• Der Burger als Edelmann (After Moliere, adapted by Ustinov, incidental music by Richard Strauss), Koch Classics 3-6578-2 (1998)

Awards

Academy Award

• 1952 nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Quo Vadis)
• 1961 won: Best Supporting Actor (Spartacus)
• 1965 won: Best Supporting Actor (Topkapi)
• 1969 nominated: Best Original Screenplay (Hot Millions, with Ira Wallach)

BAFTA Award

• 1962 nominated: Best British Screenplay (Billy Budd)
• 1978 nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role (Death on the Nile)
• 1992 won: Britannia Award for Lifetime Achievement
• 1995 nominated: Best Light Entertainment Performance (An Evening with Sir Peter Ustinov)

Berlin International Film Festival

• 1961 nominated: Golden Bear (Romanoff and Juliet)
• 1972 won: Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution (Hammersmith Is Out)
• 1972 nominated: Golden Bear (Hammersmith Is Out)

Emmy Award

• 1958 won: Best Single Performance by a Leading or Supporting Actor (Omnibus: The Life of Samuel Johnson)
• 1967 won: Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Barefoot in Athens)
• 1970 won: Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (A Storm in Summer)
• 1982 nominated: Outstanding Individual Achievement in Informational Programming (Omni: The New Frontier)
• 1985 nominated: Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts (The Well-Tempered Bach with Peter Ustinov)

Golden Globe Award

• 1952 won: Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Quo Vadis)
• 1961 nominated: Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Spartacus)
• 1965 nominated: Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Topkapi)

Grammy Award

• 1960 won: Best Recording for Children (Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf) with the Philharmonia Orchestra directed by Herbert von Karajan
• 1974 nominated: Best Recording for Children (The Little Prince)
• 1978 nominated: Best Recording for Children (Russell Hoban, The Mouse and His Child)
• 1981 nominated: Best Spoken Word Album (A Curb in the Sky)

Tony Award

• 1958 nominated: Best Play (Romanoff and Juliet)
• 1958 nominated: Best Actor in a Play (Romanoff and Juliet)

Evening Standard British Film Award

• 1980 won Best Actor (Death on the Nile)

Lifework

• 1992: Britannia Award
• 1993: London Critics' Award
• 1994: Bambi
• 1997: German Video Prize of the DIVA Award
• 1998: Bavarian Television Award
• 2001: Golden Camera (Goldene Kamera, Berlin)
• 2002: Planetary Consciousness Award of the Club of Budapest
• 2004: Bavarian Film Award (Bayerischer Filmpreis)
• 2004: Rose d'Or Charity Award with UNICEF (posthumously)

Other

• 1974: Golden Camera Award for Best Actor for the Exchange of Notes
• 1978: Prix de la Butte for Oh my goodness! Messy memoirs
• 1981: Karl Valentin Order (Munich)
• 1987: Golden Rascal (Goldenes Schlitzohr)

State honours and awards

• 1957: Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts (London)
• 1974: Order of the Smile (Poland)
• 1975: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (United Kingdom)
• 1978: UNICEF International Prize for outstanding services
• 1985: Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France)
• 1986: Istiqlal Order (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan)
• 1987: Order of the Yugoslav Flag
• 1987: Elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts
• 1990: Gold Medal of the City of Athens
• 1990: Medal of the Hellenic Red Cross
• 1990: Knight Bachelor (United Kingdom)
• 1991: Medal of Charles University in Prague
• 1994: Knight of the National Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil)
• 1994: German Culture Prize (Deutscher Kulturpreis)
• 1995: International UNICEF Prize for Outstanding Services
• 1998: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdienstkreuz)
• 2001: Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
• 2004: Hanseatic Bremen Prize for International Understanding (Bremer Hansepreis für Völkerverständigung)

Honorary degrees

Ustinov received many honorary degrees for his work.

Country	State/Province	Date	School	Degree
United States	Ohio	1968	Cleveland Institute of Music	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)
United Kingdom		1969	University of Dundee	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
United States	Pennsylvania	1971	La Salle University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
United Kingdom		1972	Lancaster University	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Canada	Alberta	1981	University of Lethbridge	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Canada	Ontario	1984	University of Toronto	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
United States	District of Columbia	1988	Georgetown University
Canada	Ontario	1991	Carleton University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
United Kingdom		1992	Durham University	Doctor of Humanities
Canada	Ontario	1995	St. Michael's College
Canada	Ontario	1995	Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Republic of Ireland		1999	National University of Ireland	Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Switzerland		2001	International University in Geneva

External links

• Peter Ustinov at IMDb
• Peter Ustinov at the TCM Movie Database
• Peter Ustinov at the Internet Broadway Database
• Peter Ustinov at the BFI's Screenonline
• Obituary (UNICEF)
• Obituary (BBC)
• "In All Directions"
• Peter Ustinov interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview (29 March 1958)
• Appearance on Desert Island Discs 19 November 1977
• Interview with Sir Peter Ustinov by Bruce Duffie, 22 May 1992 (Operatic directing and classical music)
• Pollard, Stephen (4 April 2004). "I Can Only Speak Ill of Sir Peter". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
• Peter Ustinov at the German Dubbing Card Index
• Peter Ustinov at Find a Grave
• Video by the University of Dundee about Ustinov's time as its Rector