The Oscar-winning actor, writer, raconteur and adviser to the British Humanist Association, Peter Ustinov, died in March aged 82.
Ustinov directed and starred in many films and plays, as well as being a writer of books, plays and film scripts. His two Oscars were both for Best Supporting Actor – one for his performance in Spartacus in 1960 and the other for his role in Topkapi in 1964.
He was knighted in 1990 for his humanitarian as well as artistic work, having become, in 1971, a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, travelling around the world drawing attention to the needs of children.
In Celebrities in Hell, the 2002 book by G&LH’s man in New York, Warren Allen Smith, Ustinov spoke of abortion when he said: “I’m depressed that once children are born they’re so often neglected ... Our responsibility should be with children, not merely with embryos.”
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, paid a tribute to Ustinov, saying that his talents had given delight to millions.
Ustinov was a member of the advisory panel of the British Humanist Association and was a Humanist Laureate of the International Academy of Humanism.