Peter Ustinov's great-grandfather Moritz Hall was Jewish refugee from Kraków and later a Christian colleague of German missionaries in Ethiopia. Peter’s paternal grand-father was a Russian nobleman Baron Plato von Ustinov, a WW1 German Air Force pilot. Grandmother was Magdalena Hall of mixed German-Ethiopian and Jewish descent.
In 1919 father Jona von Ustinow joined his family in St Petersburg. There he met Peter's mother artist Nadia Benois who worked for the Imperial Mariinsky Ballet and Opera House as a painter and ballet designer. Nadia was half Russian plus French, German and Italian descent; her father Leon Benois was an Imperial Russian architect. Leon's brother Alexandre Benois was a stage designer with Stravinsky & Diaghilev. What a cultured family!
Jona and Nadia married in St Petersburg’s Russian-German church in 1920, after the Communist Revolution. In Feb 1921, when she was 7 months pregnant with Peter, the couple left Russia for UK. So Peter was brought up in a multilingual family fluent in English, Russian, French, Italian and German. Dad was a respected British journalist and mum an accomplished painter.
Jona became a press officer at the German embassy in London in the 1930s and a reporter for a German news agency. After Hitler came to power in Germany, Jona began working for the British intelligence service MI5 and became a British subject, avoiding internment. He was the controller of an MI5 spy in the German embassy who gave information on Hitler's WW2 plans.
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Then he made his film debut in Hullo, Fame! 1940. His acting was now characterised by many roles where he displayed his talents for vocal mimicry and age artifice. After a few small parts in British films, he landed his first major screen role in The Goose Steps Out (1942).
From 1942-6, Ustinov served in the British Army's Royal Sussex Regiment. He was batman for Officer David Niven, where the two became lifelong friends. Ustinov spent most of his service working with the Army Cinema Unit making recruitment films, wrote plays and appeared in 3 films as an actor. He co-wrote and acted in The Way Ahead (1944).
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Peter also wrote most of the films he directed, especially noteworthy was the brilliant Billy Budd. Lady L (1965) with Sophia Loren and Paul Newman was probably his best-received directorial effort. And in 1969 he earned an Oscar nomination for his screenplay, Hot Millions.
Jona and Nadia married in St Petersburg’s Russian-German church in 1920, after the Communist Revolution. In Feb 1921, when she was 7 months pregnant with Peter, the couple left Russia for UK. So Peter was brought up in a multilingual family fluent in English, Russian, French, Italian and German. Dad was a respected British journalist and mum an accomplished painter.
Jona became a press officer at the German embassy in London in the 1930s and a reporter for a German news agency. After Hitler came to power in Germany, Jona began working for the British intelligence service MI5 and became a British subject, avoiding internment. He was the controller of an MI5 spy in the German embassy who gave information on Hitler's WW2 plans.
Peter Ustinov as Nero in Quo Vadis, 1951
Armchair Travel
Ustinov, wife and 4 children, 1963
The Guardian
Terence Stamp, Peter Ustinov, Robert Ryan
promoting Billy Budd, London, 1961
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We saw Peter had ancestral connections to nobility. So he was aptly educated at Westminster School (1934-7), having a difficult childhood with his parents. After school, he took drama and acting classes under Michel St Denis at the London Theatre Studio (1937-9). And made his stage debut in 1938 at the Stage Theatre Club Surrey, playing an old man in Chekhov's The Wood Demon. His London stage début later that year at the Players' Theatre in Covent Garden, becoming quickly established. In 1939, Peter made his London stage debut in a revue sketch, then did regular performances with the Aylesbury Repertory Co.
Then he made his film debut in Hullo, Fame! 1940. His acting was now characterised by many roles where he displayed his talents for vocal mimicry and age artifice. After a few small parts in British films, he landed his first major screen role in The Goose Steps Out (1942).
From 1942-6, Ustinov served in the British Army's Royal Sussex Regiment. He was batman for Officer David Niven, where the two became lifelong friends. Ustinov spent most of his service working with the Army Cinema Unit making recruitment films, wrote plays and appeared in 3 films as an actor. He co-wrote and acted in The Way Ahead (1944).
Ustinov, 1986
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He received his first Academy Award nomination for his role as Roman Emperor Nero in Quo Vadis (1951) and won Best Supporting Actor Oscars for Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964). His drama, Photo Finish, was staged in N.Y, London and St Petersburg, where Ustinov was director. He was a comic convict partner to Humphrey Bogart in We’re No Angels 1955, Capt Vere in the film version of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd (1961), a modern Mexican general determined to reclaim the Alamo in Viva Max! (1969), and Agatha Christie’s sleuth Hercule Poirot in 6 films of the 1970s-80s.
Finney, Murder on the Orient Express, 1974
Outspoken & Freckled
David Niven, Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith
Death on the Nile, 1978
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Acting was only one of Peter’s many creative outlets. A notable playwright, equally appreciated in NY and in London, Ustinov wrote The Love of Four Colonels (1951), Romanoff and Juliet (1956; filmed 1961), Halfway up the Tree (1967), The Unknown Soldier and His Wife (1967), in which he also starred. Beethoven’s 10th (1983) was a comedy in which he himself starred as the great composer. His credits as a film director included the screen adaptation of Romanoff and Juliet, and the darkly comic Hammersmith Is Out (1972) with Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton.
He was Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile (1978) by director John Guillermin. In the 1980s, Ustinov recreated Poirot in some tv and cinema films including Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment with Death (1988), while his cinema work in the 1990s also includes his superb role as Prof Gus Nikolais in George Miller's dramatic film, Lorenzo's Oil (1992).
He was a master of the English language. Note some of his books: eg the autobiographical works Dear Me (1977), Ustinov at Large (1991) and Ustinov Still at Large (1993). In My Russia (1996), Peter gave his views on life, career and his multicultural history.
Most pleasurable was his act as a witty raconteur. Peter was acclaimed for his fluent, humorous one-man shows where every foreign accent he used in English was perfect! I was convinced that Presidents Nixon and Reagan were actually talking on stage with Ustinov! His expertise in comedy made him a regular guest of talk show hosts and tv comedians.
He was also an acclaimed TV journalist. Ustinov visited 30+ Russian cities in the making of his well-received BBC tv series, Russia 1986. He won the Royal Society of Arts’ Benjamin Franklin Medal, but his efforts as a humanitarian were seen best when he became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF from 1969 on. He was made Commander, Order of British Empire 1975, knighted 1990 and won UNICEF’s Medal for Distinguished Service, 1993.
Ustinov had made 70+ films in Rome, London and Hollywood during a career of nearly 60 years. But from 1971, his permanent home was a château in Vaud Switzerland. He died of heart failure in 2004, the funeral being at Geneva's historic St Pierre Cathedral. This British actor, author, director, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, raconteur and humanitarian was survived by 4 children.
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He was Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile (1978) by director John Guillermin. In the 1980s, Ustinov recreated Poirot in some tv and cinema films including Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment with Death (1988), while his cinema work in the 1990s also includes his superb role as Prof Gus Nikolais in George Miller's dramatic film, Lorenzo's Oil (1992).
He was a master of the English language. Note some of his books: eg the autobiographical works Dear Me (1977), Ustinov at Large (1991) and Ustinov Still at Large (1993). In My Russia (1996), Peter gave his views on life, career and his multicultural history.
Most pleasurable was his act as a witty raconteur. Peter was acclaimed for his fluent, humorous one-man shows where every foreign accent he used in English was perfect! I was convinced that Presidents Nixon and Reagan were actually talking on stage with Ustinov! His expertise in comedy made him a regular guest of talk show hosts and tv comedians.
He was also an acclaimed TV journalist. Ustinov visited 30+ Russian cities in the making of his well-received BBC tv series, Russia 1986. He won the Royal Society of Arts’ Benjamin Franklin Medal, but his efforts as a humanitarian were seen best when he became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF from 1969 on. He was made Commander, Order of British Empire 1975, knighted 1990 and won UNICEF’s Medal for Distinguished Service, 1993.
Ustinov had made 70+ films in Rome, London and Hollywood during a career of nearly 60 years. But from 1971, his permanent home was a château in Vaud Switzerland. He died of heart failure in 2004, the funeral being at Geneva's historic St Pierre Cathedral. This British actor, author, director, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, raconteur and humanitarian was survived by 4 children.
Ustinov's modest grave, Vaud
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