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GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL 1984 - 28 July.5 August

PETER USTINOV

Peter Alexander Ustinov (London, 16 April 1921) is an English actor, writer, dramatist, filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, screenwriter, comedian, humorist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster, and television presenter.

Ustinov served as a private in the British Army during World War II, including time spent as batman to David Niven while writing the Niven film "The Way Ahead". 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 ENSA, he presented and performed the role of Sir Anthony Absolute, in Sheridan's "The Rivals", with Dame Edith Evans, at the Larkhill Camp theater.

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 Vere in "Billy Budd" (1962), 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).

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". Ustinov won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in "Spartacus" (1960) and "Topkapi" (1964). He also won one 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). Between 1952 and 1955, he starred with Peter Jones in the BBC radio comedy "In All Directions", and 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.

  • Filmography:

    • ACTOR
    cinema
    One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (1942)
    The Goose Steps Out, by Basil Dearden and Will Hay (1942)
    Let the People Sing, by John Baxter (1942)
    The Way Ahead, by Carol Reed (1944)
    Private Angelo, by Michael Anderson and Peter Ustinov (1949)
    Odette, by Herbert Wilcox (1950)
    Hotel Sahara, by Ken Annakin (1951)
    Quo vadis, by Mervyn LeRoy and Anthony Mann (1951)
    The Magic Box, by John Boulting (1951)
    The Egyptian, by Michael Curtiz (1954)
    Beau Brummell, by Curtis Bernhardt (1954)
    We're No Angels, by Michael Curtiz (1955)
    Lola Montès, by Max Ophüls (1955)
    The Wanderers, by Hugo Fregonese (1956)
    Les Espions, by Henri-Georges Clouzot (1957)
    The Man Who Wagged His Tail, by Ladislao Vajda (1957)
    Spartacus, by Stanley Kubrick (1960)
    The Sundowners, by Fred Zinnemann (1960)
    Romanoff and Juliet, by Peter Ustinov (1961)
    Billy Budd, by Peter Ustinov (1962)
    Topkapi, by Jules Dassin (1964)
    John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!, by J. Lee Thompson (1965)
    Lady L, by Peter Ustinov (1965)
    The Comedians, by Peter Glenville (1967)
    Blackbeard's Ghost, by Robert Stevenson (1968)
    Hot Millions, by Eric Till (1968)
    Viva Max!, by Jerry Paris (1969)
    Hammersmith Is Out, by Peter Ustinov (1972)
    One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, by Robert Stevenson (1975)
    Logan's Run, by Michael Anderson (1976)
    Treasure of Matecumbe, by Vincent McEveety (1976)
    Un taxi mauve, by Yves Boisset (1977)
    The Last Remake of Beau Geste, by Marty Feldman (1977)
    Double Murder, by Steno (1977)
    Death on the Nile, by John Guillermin (1978)
    Ashanti, Land of No Mercy, by Richard Fleischer (1979)
    Nous maigrirons ensemble, by Michel Vocoret (1979)
    Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen, by Clive Donner (1981)
    The Great Muppet Caper, by Jim Henson (1981)
    Venezia, carnevale, un amore, by Mario Lanfranchi (1982)
    Evil Under the Sun, by Guy Hamilton (1982)
    Memed My Hawk, by Peter Ustinov (1984)

    television
    Peer Gynt, by Royston Morley - TV film (1954)
    BBC Sunday-Night Theatre - TV series, 1 episode (1955)
    Omnibus - TV series, 3 episodes (1957-1958)
    The Steve Allen Show - TV series, 1 episode (1958)
    Barefoot in Athens, by George Schaefer - TV film (1966)
    Klapzubova jedenáctka - TV series, 1 episode (1968)
    A Storm in Summer, by Buzz Kulik - TV film (1970)
    Gideon, by George Schaefer - TV film (1971)
    Burt Bacharach: Opus No. 3, by Dwight Hemion - TV film (1973)
    Kein Abend wie jeder andere, by Hermann Leitner - TV film (1976)
    Jesus of Nazareth, by Franco Zeffirelli - TV miniseries (1977)
    The Thief of Baghdad, by Clive Donner - TV film (1978)
    Strumpet City - TV series, 1 episode (1980)
    Imaginary Friends, by Michael Darlow - TV film (1983)
    Abgehort, by Rolf von Sydow - TV film (1984)

    short films
    New Acres, by R.K. Neilson-Baxter (1941)
    The New Lot, by Carol Reed (1943)
    The Legend of the Good Beasts, by Ted Obolensky (1956)
    The Search of Santa Claus, by Stan Swan (1981)

    documentaries
    Mein Kampf - My Crimes, by Norman Lee (1940)

    • DUBBING
    House of Pleasure, by Max Ophüls (1952)
    La Bergère et la ramoneur, by Paul Grimault (1952)
    Women of the World, by Paolo Cavara, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi (1963)
    The Peaches, by Michael Gill (1965)
    The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, by Ed Levitt and Bill Melendez - TV film (1968)
    Babar Comes to America, by Ed Levitt and Bill Melendez - TV film (1971)
    Clochemerle - TV series, 9 episodes (1972)
    Robin Hood, by Wolfgang Reitherman (1973)
    The Mouse and His Child, by Charles Swenson and Fred Wolf (1977)
    Metamorphoses, by Takashi (1978)
    Tarka the Otter, by David Cobham (1979)
    Doctor Snuggles - TV series, 13 episodes (1979-1980)
    Grendel Grendel Grendel, by Alexander Stitt (1981)

    • SCREENWRITER
    The New Lot, by Carol Reed (1943) - short film
    The Way Ahead, by Carol Reed (1944)
    The True Glory, by Garson Kanin and Carol Reed (1945)
    School for Secrets, by Peter Ustinov (1946)
    Vice Versa, by Peter Ustinov (1948)
    Private Angelo, by Michael Anderson and Peter Ustinov (1949)
    Under Capricorn, by Alfred Hitchcock (1949)
    BBC Sunday-Night Theatre - TV series, 2 episodes (1950-1955)
    Lola Montès, by Max Ophüls (1955)
    The DuPont Show of the Month - TV series, 1 episode (1957)
    Omnibus - TV series, 1 episode (1958)
    Spartacus, by Stanley Kubrick (1960)
    Romanoff and Juliet, by Peter Ustinov (1961)
    Billy Budd, by Peter Ustinov (1962)
    Lady L, by Peter Ustinov (1965)
    Das Leben in meiner Hand, by Rolf von Sydow - TV film (1966)
    Thursday Theatre - TV series, 1 episode (1966)
    Hot Millions, by Eric Till (1968)
    Au théatre ce soir - TV series, 1 episode (1969)
    Endspurt, by Harry Meyen (1970)
    Foto finis-yaris bitti - TV miniseries (1977)
    Memed My Hawk, by Peter Ustinov (1984)

    • DIRECTOR
    School for Secrets (1946)
    Vice versa (1948)
    Private Angelo (1949)
    Omnibus - TV series, 1 episode (1958)
    Romanoff and Juliet (1961)
    Billy Budd (1962)
    Lady L (1965)
    Hammersmith Is Out (1972)
    Memed My Hawk (1984)

    • PRODUCER
    School for Secrets, by Peter Ustinov (1946)
    Vice Versa, by Peter Ustinov (1948)
    Private Angelo, by Michael Anderson and Peter Ustinov (1949)
    Romanoff and Juliet, by Peter Ustinov (1961)
    Billy Budd, by Peter Ustinov (1962)