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2 articles from 2004

29 March 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Peter Ustinov, who won the best supporting actor Oscar twice -- for Spartacus in 1960 and Topkapi in 1964 and won Emmys for best actor in a drama in 1952, 1966 and 1970, died in Switzerland Sunday at the age of 82. He was also sought out as a raconteur on TV talk shows and was a regular guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar in the late '50s and early '60s.

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29 March 2004 | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Legendary character actor Peter Ustinov, who won two Oscars for roles in Spartacus and Topkapi, died Sunday night in Switzerland of heart failure; he was 82. Also a prolific writer, Ustinov began his acting career at the age of 17 and sold his first screenplay (for The True Glory) at 24. At age 30, he earned his first Oscar nomination for his turn as Nero in Quo Vadis?, effectively establishing himself as one of the screen's most versatile supporting actors. Though known to most moviegoers as a portly British character actor, Ustinov was a multi-talented entertainer who also wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the acclaimed 1962 film Billy Budd, wrote innumerable novels and plays (including Romanoff and Juliet), and traveled extensively as a humanitarian, raconteur and humorist. Ustinov's biographer, John Miller, once remarked that the actor, who was knighted in 1990, "had enough careers for about six other men." Though confined to a wheelchair later in his life, Ustinov continued to raise money for UNICEF and most recently appeared in the film Luther. Other notable roles include his turns as Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot in Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun and Appointment with Death as well as films Lorenzo's Oil, Logan's Run, Hot Millions (for which he also received a Screenplay Oscar nomination), The Sundowners and The Egyptian. --Prepared by IMDb staff

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2 articles from 2004