Peter Ustinov

Peter Ustinov was a British actor, writer, director and humanitarian, born in 1921 and dead in 2004, whose career crossed stage, screen, radio-era wit and television talk. In film he won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, for Spartacus and Topkapi, and played parts in Quo Vadis, Billy Budd and Logan's Run, as well as voicing Prince John in Disney's animated Robin Hood. Beyond acting he wrote and occasionally directed films, among them The Way Ahead, School for Secrets, Billy Budd and Hot Millions, and he directed several operas in the 1960s. He became a fixture of television talk shows and lecture circuits as a raconteur, portrayed Hercule Poirot on both film and television, and from 1969 devoted much of his energy to UNICEF as a goodwill ambassador. He was chancellor of Durham University from 1992 until his death.