MEETING PETER USTINOV

The World's fair in Montreal, Expo '67, was a tremendous achievement
and brought just about every famous and important person to the city
during its six-month run. Disada Productions was still an amateur film
group at the time, but we applied for a press pass for our monthly
newsletter and got two passes for the two founders. This allowed us to
attend press conferences and to go to the VIP areas where the
celebrities could retreat to relax and meet one another. I would
sometimes go just to see who was there and only struck up
conversations when people invited or initiated it.

Most celebrities fall into two main categories I find. There are those
who are full time celebrities and seem to define themselves mainly, if
not solely, by their careers and public persona and there are those
who consider themselves, and are, people first and foremost, who just
seem to have interesting or accomplished careers. What I've usually
found is that the bigger the “star” the more they are just people and
those with the most talent seem to have strong personal character as
well. While I have enjoyed talking shop with many in the film or
entertainment business, I have enjoyed talking with them on other
subjects that interested them as subjects. We talk of their hobbies,
their families, what's in the news or whatever. I have found that if
you make a connection like that they will open up and relax, leading
to a good and rewarding time.

I would sometimes bring friends to the VIP lounge when we would visit
Expo '67 (every two or three days- there was so much to see and do.)
One day I brought my mother to the lounge and as we sat there
Peter Ustinov came over and sat across from us, nodding hello. He took
one of the newspapers and started to read it. I continued talking with
my mother and she kept looking over at Peter Ustinov and started to
quietly laugh. He looked up at her and she laughed even louder. She
kept this up until he put down the paper and asked “Are you all
right?” Between laughs and giggles I heard her say “I was thinking of
you in your underwear.” He gave a funny look then said “Oh, well,
thank you very much.”
She added between more laughs “No, when you were on the roof in your
underwear.” This didn't help.
Eventually she calmed down and explained she was referring to the
funny scene in the film TOPKAPI where he was indeed on a roof in his
underwear trying to control a rope and calling out “oh oh oh” as it
got away from him. His performance in TOPKAPI had brought him his
second acting Academy Award and lots of laughs from my mom.