SIR Peter Ustinov, who died aged 82 in March 2004, was a man of many substantial talents: playwright, Oscar-winning actor, film director, novelist, and much-loved raconteur.
“His career”, said the obituary in the Guardian, “was like a firework display which never seemed to end.
“The highest-rising rockets and the great, all-illuminating Roman candles ran out eventually, but the squibs and firecrackers were still entertaining; and the occasional extravagant set-pieces remained gorgeous”.
Ustinov made his London stage debut at the age of 18; by the time the photograph above was taken, in August 1949, he was an established dramatist.
His latest play, The Man in the Raincoat, had its first performance at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre on August 29; Ustinov is seen in rehearsal with co-star Mary Ellis.
This paper’s drama critic observed that the play had a certain superficial resemblance to T.S. Eliot’s comedy, The Cocktail Party, which had graced the same venue only the previous week: “Here again the story deals with a couple whose marriage is breaking up, but in a more conventional triangle situation”.
Some 19 years and many other career landmarks later, Ustinov was photographed trying his hand at the bagpipes, shortly before being installed by the Queen Mother as the first rector of Dundee University, in October 1968.
In the Caird Hall he gave an eloquent, inspirational address, touching on the natural inclination of the young to be revolutionary, the stockpiling of nuclear weapons (“the grim fact is that the men in charge of them are as mediocre as those who invented them are brilliant”), the concept of power, and the Vietnam war. “He was in no mood,” the Herald observed, “merely to entertain”.
Read more: Herald Diary
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel