GENEVA (AP) - Sir Peter Ustinov, a wit and mimic who won two Oscars for an acting career that ranged from the evil emperor Nero in Quo Vadis to the quirky Agatha Christie detective Hercule Poirot, has died. He was 82.
Ustinov, whose talents included writing plays, movies and novels as well as directing operas, also devoted himself to the world's children for more than 30 years as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
He died of heart failure Sunday in a clinic near his home at Bursins overlooking Lake Geneva, said Leon Davico, a friend and former UNICEF spokesman.
Born in London, 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 delighted in national differences and frequently referred to them in his works and public appearances. He was - as he noted proudly in his autobiography Dear Me - conceived in Russia, baptized in Germany and reared under a succession of Cameroonian, Irish and German nurses.
His imposing figure, variously described as resembling a teddy bear or a giant panda, began at 12 pounds at birth and stayed with him throughout his career.
Ustinov made some 90 movies and also wrote books and plays. He directed films, plays and operas. His narration of Sergey Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf won him a Grammy.
Picked by Rhume Temperachure.