Ustinov, Peter Alexander (1921–2004)

English stage and film actor, writer, and director. Of Russian descent, he had an impressive screen presence, either as comic chat-show raconteur or dramatic actor. He won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964). He also wrote and directed several films, including Romanoff and Juliet (1961), Billy Budd (1962), Lady L (1965), and Memed My Hawk (1984). Later acting roles include performances in Lorenzo's Oil (1992) and Luther (2003). He published his autobiography, Dear Me, in 1983.

Other film appearances included Death on the Nile (1978), in which he first played the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and Evil under the Sun (1981). In the 1980s he revived the role of Hercule Poirot in such UK television productions as Murder in Three Acts (1986) and Appointment with Death (1988). His later films include Stiff Upper Lips (1996), The Bachelor (1999), and The Will to Resist (2002). Ustinov also featured in a number of television films and series, including Alice in Wonderland (1999), Victoria and Albert (2002), and Winter Solstice (2003). His plays include The Love of Four Colonels (1951) and Beethoven's Tenth (1983). He was knighted in 1990.