Peter Ustinov Photo: (c) Allan Warren.
Peter Ustinov was not just an actor, but a full artist. Although the cinema gave him eternity by embodying characters as eternal as the emperor Nero de Quo vadis (no one can imagine it with another face), Ustinov was also director, screenwriter, painter, musician and writer both theater, novels and short stories. In addition, he wrote two autobiographies and was very active in his most supportive side. This is a review to his life and most literary work in this cinematographic July that I have.
Peter Ustinov
Born in London April 16 1921, at Swiss Cottage, in the Hampstead neighborhood. From russian parents who fled when the 1917 Revolution, graduated from the Westminster School, and then enrolled in the London Theater Studio. But before finishing his studies in dramatic art, acted in rooms doing imitations known characters.
He debuted at the age of 19 as actor in a work that he had written and, at the same time, he worked for the press and radio. Served in the Second World War where he was under the orders of an officer named David niven, for which he wrote his first screenplay later in 1952.
A year earlier Ustinov had given life to Nero en Quo Vadis, reaching the global success which has always accompanied him. Won two Oscars for his unforgettable Lentulo Batiatus Spartacus and by Topkapi. And wrote scripts television programs, in addition to tests y articles of sociological themes. It was also a very worthy Hercules Poirot.
It was also director of both cinema and opera, who was passionate about, as well as a painter and a great activist of solidarity causes that led him to be a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
Life is an operetta
Compilation of stories.
- Life is an operetta it is an acute vision of a world that is always collapsing, although its characters are reincarnated through all ages.
- The borders of the sea. Set in a Spanish coastal town, it is starred by two opposing men, an illiterate old fisherman and a shipwrecked Albanian, who establish a close relationship without words but across the sea.
- Dreams of Papua is an incisive satire on the cult of mediocrity and aggressive American defense.
- The murderers It is about a band of harmless old men who announce what they plan to do to get stopped.
- Gifted dog takes us to the English upper class to describe their way of life and attitudes, especially, towards marriage.
- To finish, God and the state railways y The silk dagger they continue to delve into the profound psychological portraits of the human condition that Ustinov saw and analyzed.
Krumnagel
Bart Krumnagel is the protagonist of this novel that takes place in a big city where he is el superior chief of police. It endlessly persecutes criminals and those who try to corrupt or deviate established ways of life. All in a rather innocent but relentless way that, in the end, turns into violent revenge. against corruption.
The old man and Mr. Smith
Interesting premise in this trip of the most amazing couple that could be imagined: God and devil. Both must perform a study of the present time. The problem is that being immortal makes them not adapt well to these times.
So, quickly, they are stopped by the police when they arrive in North America, accused of introducing counterfeit currency. Obviously their escape will be easy and they will continue their flight through the world. And in those shared avatars will also have time to show their more human feelings and forgive eternal grudges.
The loser
The most unlikely but strangely charming hero of this novel is Hans winterschild, born just in time to become a man in the years of Hitler. Hans will fall in love with a troubled and sad 16 year old prostitute, which will affect your life forever.
My dear me and my russia
They are your autobiographies published in 1977 and 1983.