Ego Dialogues

Peter Ustinov Born April 16 1921. Birth Name: Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov Born in London, England UK Died March 28th 2004. (UNICEF obituary) In the year 2003, a year before he died, Peter Ustinov founded, with the support of the City of Vienna and the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna, the "Sir Peter Ustinov Institut zur Erforschung und Bekämpfung von Vorurteilen" (Sir Peter Ustinov institute for the investigation of and combat against prejudice) in Vienna, Austria. The aim of the Institute, as conceived by Ustinov, is to uphold, through formal academic research, cooperation and teaching, the humanitarian need to fight prejudice as a source of catastrophe and suffering in the world. He was a Humanist Laureate, a member of the International Academy of Humanism.

Peter Ustinov was of French, Italian, Swiss, Russian and Ethiopian ancestry and he spoke English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian, fluently, as well as some Turkish and modern Greek. He was proficient in accents and dialects in all his languages.

Peter Ustinov served as an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund. "Sir Peter could make anyone laugh," UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy is quoted as saying. "His one-man show in German was the funniest performance I have ever seen - and I don't speak a word of German." In 1990 Peter Ustinov was knighted Sir Peter Ustinov.

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Quotes by Peter Ustinov

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious. Once we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our mind, our duty is to furnish it well.

In America, through pressure of conformity, there is freedom of choice, but nothing to choose from. To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal.