GER-VOLGA-L Archives

From: Vera Beljakova <>
Subject: [GV] Obituary: Peter Ustinov (82)
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 14:53:54 +0200

Peter Ustinov, Oscar-winning film-star, actor, author, playwright,
Member of the Russian nobility of Saratov.
Had one Volga-German grandmother, daughter of a Lutheran pastor
from "across the Volga",
who convert the Ustinov grandpapa to Lutheranism -
and lost his daughter into the bargain...
The Ustinovs made their millions in the Siberian salt trade.
Read his biography: "Dear me".
Also recommended his book: "My Russia"
and his set of videos on (imagined)
"Interviews with Great Russian personailities"/monarchs.

Vera Beljakova
------
Obituary

Peter Ustinov dies at age of 82
March 29, 2004

By Paul Majendie

London - Oscar-winning British actor Peter Ustinov, renowned as being
one of the world's most entertaining raconteurs and mimics, has died at
the age of 82.

"He died last night in Switzerland," his London agent, Steve Kenis, said
on Monday. "I shall remember him for always seeing the bright side of
everything."

His son, Igor, said that the actor had died of heart failure. He had
been in a Swiss beside the Lake Geneva, near his home, since being taken
ill on his return from a Christmas holiday in Thailand.

"It was not a surprise, he was pretty ill. He had had a busy life and he
was tired, but he certainly was not ready to go," Igor Ustinov said by
telephone
"I shall remember him for always seeing the bright side of everything"
-Steve Kenis
.

Just 18 months ago, Ustinov said in an interview he was happy to work
until he dropped "as long as I can be guaranteed that I won't know in
advance when it's going to happen."

Ustinov, who spoke more than half a dozen languages, won Oscars for his
roles in the films Spartacus and Topkapi. But he led a richly varied
life as a playwright, novelist, film director and goodwill ambassador
for the UN Children's Fund.


Born in London of Russian parentage, Ustinov was a London revue star as
a teenager and wrote his first play at 19. He made his first feature
film at 25.

He starred in, produced and directed his own plays in London, New York,
Berlin, Paris and Rome. He wrote novels to fill in time whilst hanging
around on Hollywood film sets.

He interviewed a string of world leaders, was garlanded with
international honours and ranked as one of the finest mimics in the
business.

On stages across Europe, the United States and Australia, he captured by
caricature an international Who's Who of characters, insisting: "I don't
rehearse the faces at all. I just feel like the people."

Ustinov was the first to admit that laughter had been a life-long drug,
confessing: "I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which
has always seemed to me to be the most civilised music in the world."

He was once asked what would be his ideal epitaph.

With a familiar twinkle in his eye, he swiftly decided on the perfect
inscription for his tombstone: "Keep off the grass."



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