Oscar-winning actor Peter Ustinov dies
Multifaceted entertainer was humanitarian, raconteur
(CNN) -- Sir Peter Ustinov, the multifaceted entertainer, globetrotting humanitarian and lively raconteur, has died at the age of 82.
The actor and writer -- who entertained and delighted generations of audiences -- died Sunday in Switzerland.
The cause of death was heart failure, said his close friend Leon Davico.
Ustinov was being treated in a clinic at Genolier, near his home in Bursins among vineyards overlooking Lake Geneva.
"He was a great man. He was human being. He was a unique person, someone you could really count on," Davico told The Associated Press.
An two-time Oscar winner -- he earned supporting actor awards for "Spartacus" (1960) and "Topkapi" (1964) -- Ustinov was also a world-acclaimed mimic and master of at least a half dozen languages.
He came by his multiculturalism naturally. As he noted in his autobiography, "Dear Me," he was conceived in St. Petersburg, Russia, born in England, baptized in Germany, and raised by nurses of Irish, German and Cameroonian heritage.
Always a sunny, optimistic sort, Ustinov confessed to having a lifelong addiction to laughter.
"I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me to be the most civilized music in the world," he said.
A gifted actor, a good humanitarian
Born in London on April 16, 1921, the only son of a Russian artist mother and a journalist father, Ustinov claimed also to have Swiss, Ethiopian, Italian and French blood -- everything except English.
Ustinov was educated at the prestigious Westminster School, but hated it and left at 16.
He began performing at age 3, mimicking politicians of the day. He appeared in his first revue and had his first stage play presented in London in 1940, when he was 19.
His public persona could be seen in more than 90 films in a transatlantic career that spanned six decades.
He first achieved wide fame with his performance in the 1951 version of "Quo Vadis?", which earned him his first of four Oscar nominations. Three of those nominations -- "Quo Vadis?", "Spartacus" and "Topkapi" -- were for acting. The fourth was for best original screenplay, for the 1968 film "Hot Millions."
Among Ustinov's other roles were the voice of "Babar the Elephant," a doctor in the film "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992) and Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, which Ustinov played in two theatrical features and three TV movies.
Showing his range, he also played Chinese-American detective Charlie Chan in "Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen" (1981) and an Asian spy in "One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing" (1975). He won three Emmys, playing Dr. Samuel Johnson in "Dr. Johnson," Socrates in "Barefoot in Athens" and a Jewish delicatessen owner in "A Storm in Summer."
Ustinov was also a capable writer, and wrote novels, short stories, stage plays and screen adaptations. Probably his best-known play was "Romanoff and Juliet," which was made into a film in 1961.
In addition to sharing the silver screen with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Ustinov could be found helping children in Third World countries and working to raise money for charities.
For more than 30 years, he combined his creative output with his work as an ambassador at large for the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, and was also a volunteer for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
"He never said no to anything UNICEF or the rest of United Nations asked him to do," Davico told the AP.
Ustinov received the UNICEF medal for distinguished services.
High honors
In 1975, Queen Elizabeth II made him a Companion of the Order of the British Empire and, 1990, made him a knight.
His main worry, the AP reported, was how to reply to the invitation.
"The invitation said, 'Delete whichever is inapplicable: I can kneel -- I cannot kneel.' But there was nothing for those who can kneel but not get up," the bearlike Ustinov recalled.
Ustinov set up a foundation dedicated to creating understanding between cultures and generations, and worked tirelessly on it and other projects. But he will probably be best remembered for just being himself.
"He was a very good actor but he wasn't used as an actor as much as he should have been because he became famous as Peter Ustinov," director Michael Winner told the AP.
"He was someone who really tried to help," Davico said. "He was not only the funniest person person I've ever met, but the most intelligent. He was an attentive citizen of the world."
Steve Kenis, Ustinov's London agent, said: "I shall remember him for always seeing the bright side of everything."
Ustinov was married three times and is survived by his third wife, Helene du Lau d'Allemans, and four children.
Always impish, Ustinov even knew how to get a laugh out of his passing.
Asked by an interviewer what he would want inscribed on his tombstone, Ustinov replied with a familiar twinkle in his eye: "Keep off the grass."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
