Trivia of Peter Ustinov

Trivia of Peter Ustinov (16 April 1921 - 28 March 2004)

*He was known to proudly say, "I have Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, French and Ethiopian blood in my veins".His father was of one-quarter Polish Jewish, one-half Russian, one-eighth Ethiopian, and one-eighth German descent, while his mother was of one-half Russian, one-quarter Italian, one-eighth French, and one-eighth German ancestry.

*He attended Westminster College (1934-1937), took the drama and acting class under Michel St Denis at the London Theatre Studio (1937-1939), and made his stage debut in 1938 at the Stage Theatre Club in Surrey. He wrote his first play at the age of 19. In 1939, he made his London stage debut in a revue sketch, then had regular performances with the Aylesbury Repertory Company. The following year, he made his film debut in Hullo, Fame! (1940).

*Ustinov's first wife was Angela Lansbury's half-sister, Isolde Denham (1920-1987). They were married from 1940 to 1950, when the union ended in divorce. Ustinov and Denham had one child together, Tamara Ustinov.

*Made a comedy record in the late 1950s, "Mock Mozart" and "Phoney Folk Lore". He had been performing these as party pieces. Overdubbing allowed Ustinov to sing multiple parts. His producer was George Martin, future producer of The Beatles. (Martin later described Ustinov as "Britain's answer to Orson Welles.")

*In prepare for movie Quo Vadis (1951), Peter Ustinov recalled that MGM had sought him for the role of Emperor Nero, but dithered for months, refusing to commit. During this time, he received numerous telegrams from the studio, one of which stated that they were concerned that he might be too young to play the notorious Roman Emperor. Ustinov replied that Emperor Nero died when he was thirty, and that if they waited much longer, he'd be too old. The studio cabled back: "Historical research has proved you correct. You have the part." Coincidentally (or not), Ustinov was 30 years old when this movie was released.

*The film Spartacus (1960) took so long to film that he wrote a full-length novel during filming, and his youngest child Andrea replied "Spartacus" when a schoolmate asked her what her father did for a living.Several scenes featuring Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton were re-written by Ustinov after Laughton rejected the original script.

*On 31 October 1984, he was waiting in the garden of Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to interview her for an Irish television documentary when she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards (Beant Singh, who was killed while trying to escape after his arrest, and Satwant Singh, sentenced to hang in 1988) as she was approaching Ustinov and his film crew.