Peter Ustinov's mother, Nadezhda Leontievna Benois, known as Nadia, was a painter and ballet designer of French, German, Italian, and Russian descent.
14 Facts About Peter Ustinov
2.
Peter Ustinov's father, Leon Benois, was an Imperial Russian architect and owner of Leonardo da Vinci's painting Benois Madonna.
3.
In 1935, two years after Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Jona von Peter Ustinov began working for the British intelligence service MI5 and became a British subject, thus avoiding internment during the war.
4.
Peter Ustinov voiced the anthropomorphic lions Prince John and King Richard in the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood.
5.
On 31 October 1984, Peter Ustinov was due to interview Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi for Irish television.
6.
Peter Ustinov served as president of the World Federalist Movement from 1991 until his death.
7.
Peter Ustinov was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions, in November 1977 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at Pinewood Studios on the set of Death on the Nile.
8.
Peter Ustinov was surprised again in December 1994, when Michael Aspel approached him at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
9.
Peter Ustinov was knighted in 1990 and was appointed chancellor of Durham University in 1992, having previously been elected as the first rector of the University of Dundee in 1968.
10.
Peter Ustinov was re-elected to the post for a second three-year term in 1971, narrowly beating Michael Parkinson after a disputed recount.
11.
Peter Ustinov went to Berlin on a UNICEF mission in 2002 to visit the circle of United Buddy Bears that promote a more peaceful world between nations, cultures, and religions for the first time.
12.
Peter Ustinov presented and narrated the official video review of the 1987 Formula One season and narrated the documentary series Wings of the Red Star.
13.
Peter Ustinov died on 28 March 2004 of heart failure in a clinic in Genolier, near his home in Bursins, Switzerland, aged 82.
14.
Peter Ustinov was the president of the World Federalist Movement from 1991 to 2004, the time of his death.