News & Politics - Peter Ustinov dies at 82

galela · 03-29-2004, 08:59 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040329/ts_afp/britain_switzerland_ 040329144740

GENEVA (AFP) - European governments paid tribute to the Oscar-winning actor, writer and wit Peter Ustinov, whose life and work were summed up in his claim to be "a citizen of the world", after he died near his home in Switzerland at the age of 82.

"He was a great personality, a great humanist but above all a great humourist", German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told a news conference in Berlin.

Born in London on April 16, 1921, to part-Russian parents, Ustinov died late Sunday at a clinic close to the village of Bursins, in western Switzerland, where he had lived since 1957.

"He will be sorely missed," Fischer said, adding that he was "very sad" to learn of his death.

The son of a Russian-German journalist father and a painter mother of Russian, Italian and French descent, Ustinov spoke half a dozen languages fluently and described himself as "ethnically filthy, and proud of it."

Noting that Ustinov had since 1971 been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations (news - web sites)' Children's Fund, UNICEF (news - web sites), French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon described him as "an exceptional and profoundly human man."

He paid tribute to Ustinov's "humour and the formidable energy he released" in roles such as detective Hercule Poirot in "Death on the Nile" and Mister Loyal in "Lola Montes". These and other performances provided "greatly entertaining moments but also true lessons in life," Aillagon said.

In a transatlantic career spanning 60 years, Ustinov played in more than 70 films and was first nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the Roman emperor Nero in Quo Vadis in 1951.

He twice won the Academy Award for best supporting actor -- in "Spartacus" (1960) and "Topkapi" (1964).

"From the age of four, he realised his gift as an actor from doing impressions of motorcars so accurate that people would leap out of the way for fear of being run over," his biographer John Miller told Sky News television on Monday.

His agent Steve Kennis summed up Ustinov's personality: "He was a giver throughout everything, a wonderful warm human being at all times."

"He would always see the bright side of something, even something that would be very annoying to him or to all of us around him," Kennis told Sky News.

In 1993 he received the UNICEF medal for distinguished service. He was made Companion of the Order of the British Empire in 1975 by Queen Elizabeth II (news - web sites), who went on to knight him in 1990.

He married three times in his life, first when he was 19, then again in 1954 to the Canadian actress Suzanne Cloutier.

Of his third wife Helene, Ustinov said: "She has made me into something approaching the man I once hoped to be, privately and secretly."

Ustinov, a diabetic, fell ill on returning from a New Year holiday in Thailand, according to friends.

"I had seen him several times this past week and I saw the end was approaching. His heart gave way," friend Leon Davico told AFP.

this is so sad [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] i'm gonna miss him.
the world lost a great man. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Caradeangel · 03-29-2004, 12:58 PM

I am so sad! I actually sat infront of the TV crying. I really admired him.

As galela said: the world lost a great man. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

God bless his soul.

[ 03-29-2004: Message edited Caradeangel ]