Peter Ustinov

Death on the Nile

On a luxurious cruise on the Nile River, a wealthy heiress, Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles), is murdered. Fortunately, among the passengers are famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) and his trusted companion, Colonel Race (David Niven), who immediately begin their investigation. But just as Poirot identifies a motley collection of would-be murderers, several of the suspects also meet their demise, which only deepens the mystery of the killer's identity.

A Storm in Summer

Abel Shaddick (Peter Ustinov), a grumpy owner of a Jewish deli in upstate New York, is a man turned cold by his son's death in World War II. He remains closed off until a rich woman (Marlyn Mason) connects the man with Herman Washington (N'Gai Dixon), a young black boy from the inner city. The two are standoffish at first, and their disparate backgrounds don't help matters much. But gradually they connect, learning that they have plenty in common and many reasons to open up.

Topkapi

Beautiful thief Elizabeth Lipp (Melina Mercouri) and criminal genius Walter Harper (Maximilian Schell) put together a plan to steal an emerald-encrusted dagger from Istanbul's Topkapi Palace. As part of their crew, they hire small-time hustler Arthur Simon Simpson (Peter Ustinov) to act as their fall guy. When the Turkish secret police capture Simpson at the border, they persuade him to spy on his partners in crime, mistakenly believing that they're Communist agents plotting an assassination.