Sir Peter Ustinov， a brilliant wit and mimic who won two Oscars for an acting career that ranged from the evil Nero in Quo Vadis to the detective Poirot.
Peter Alexander Ustinov was born in London on April 16， 1921， the only child of a Russian artist mother and a journalist father. Ustinov claimed also to have Swiss， Ethiopian， Italian and French blood—everything except English. He was performing by age 3， mimicking politicians of the day when his parents invited Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie for dinner. The youth attended the private Westminster School in London until he was 16， when he began studying acting with Michel Saint Denis at the London Theater Studio. Within two years he made his London stage debut and gained increasing notice by writing and acting in two revues① and writing five plays.
Ustinov made some 90 movies and also wrote books and plays. He directed films， plays and operas. Among his film roles were a nomad in the outback② who befriends a family in The Sundowners， a one-eyed slave in The Egyptian， and detective Poirot in Death on the Nile.
Ustinov won best supporting actor Oscars for the role of Batiatus， owner of the gladiator school in Spartacus (1960)， and as Arthur Simpson， an English small-time black marketeer in Topkapi (1965). His Nero—the Roman emperor who presided over the throwing of Christians to the lions won him a Golden Globe for best supporting actor in the 1951 movie Quo Vadis. He also won three Emmys， portraying the English lexicographer③ Samuel Johnson in Dr. Johnson and Socrates in Barefoot in Athens. In A Storm in Summer， his Emmy came for playing an aged Jewish delicatessen④ owner.
Ustinov rated his satisfactions in this order： writing novels， writing short stories， playwriting， acting， directing and producing. “Writing has always been my deepest love，” he said. “Acting is intrinsically⑤ easy. You’re like a chameleon， adapting yourself to various circumstances and to what other people are writing. Writing is much more mysterious， and more personal.” Among his novels were The Loser (1960) and Krumnagel (1971)； his short stories included Add a Dash of Pity (1959) and The Frontiers of the Sea (1966).
Ustinov later became a staunch6 advocate for UNESCO. He was for more than 20 years a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund， and for several years was a rector⑥ of the University of Dundee in Scotland. He also set up a foundation dedicated to understanding between people across the globe and between generations. He was knighted by the Queen of England in 1990.
① revuen. 讽刺时事的滑稽剧
② outbackn. 人口稀少开发落后的边疆地区
③ lexicographern. 词典编纂者
④ delicatessenn. 熟食店
⑤ intrinsicallyadv. 从本质上(讲)
⑥ rectorn. (某些学校、大学的)校长
“大侦探波洛”
彼得·乌斯季诺夫爵士是一位才华横溢的巧嘴人和模仿者，演艺生涯中两次获得奥斯卡奖。他所饰演的角色从《暴君焚城录》中的暴君尼禄到《尼罗河上的惨案》中的侦探波洛，不一而足。
彼得·亚历山大·乌斯季诺夫1921年4月16日出生于伦敦。他是家里的独子，母亲是一位俄罗斯艺术家，父亲是记者。乌斯季诺夫曾称自己还拥有瑞士、埃塞俄比亚、意大利和法国血统——惟独没有英国的。3岁时，乌斯季诺夫就在表演了。那时他父母宴请埃塞俄比亚皇帝海尔·塞拉西，他模仿当时的政客形象。少年时代的乌斯季诺夫就读于伦敦的威斯敏斯特私立学校。16岁时，他开始在伦敦剧院工作室师从米歇尔·圣丹尼斯学习表演。不到两年，他就在伦敦首次登台演出，并编写和出演了两出时俗讽刺剧，还编写了5个剧本，从而得到越来越多的关注。
乌斯季诺夫一生拍过大约90部电影，还写书和剧本，导演电影、戏剧和歌剧。他所扮演的电影角色包括：《流浪汉》中和一个家庭成为朋友的一个内地游牧民、《埃及人》中的独眼奴隶、《尼罗河上的惨案》中的侦探波洛。
乌斯季诺夫凭借1960年的影片《斯巴达克斯》中斗士学校老板巴蒂亚图斯的角色和1965年的影片《托卡比》中英国三流黑市商人阿瑟·辛普森的角色，两度获得奥斯卡最佳男配角奖。他在1951年的影片《暴君焚城录》中扮演了将基督徒投喂狮子的罗马皇帝尼禄，并因此获得了金球奖最佳男配角奖。此外，他还获得三项艾美奖：在《约翰逊博士》中塑造了英国词典编纂者塞缪尔·约翰逊的形象；在《赤足雅典》中塑造了苏格拉底的形象；在《夏日风暴》中扮演了一位年长的犹太熟食店老板。
乌斯季诺夫对自己所从事工作的满意度列出了如下的顺序：写长篇小说、写短篇小说、写剧本、表演、导演、制作。“写作一直是我最喜欢的工作，”他曾说。“表演本来是很简单的，你就像是变色龙一样，把自己融入各种环境中，按照别人写的去做。而写作则更具神秘性，更个人化。”他创作的长篇小说包括：《失败者》(1960年)和《克鲁姆纳盖尔》(1971年)。短篇小说有：《加一点怜悯》(1959年)和《海的边界》(1966年)。
乌斯季诺夫后来成为联合国教科文组织的坚定拥护者。他为联合国儿童基金会担任了20多年的亲善大使，并在苏格兰的邓迪大学担任了几年校长。他还成立了一个基金会，旨在促进世界各国人民之间以及几代人之间的相互理解。1990年，他被英国女王封为爵士。
