Peter Arne

Acting

Born September 29, 1920, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Born in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya, to a Swiss-French mother and an American father, Peter Arne was an actor and an antique dealer who was murdered in 1983. In the late 1940s, Arne and his partner Jack Corke befriended acclaimed novelist Mary Renault and her partner, Julie Mullard, on the SS Cairo, a steamer bound from Britain to South Africa and convinced them to go into business building homes for immigrants to the country. Renault financed using her £25,000 MGM award, employing labourers and craftsmen to begin construction of several houses, but Arne and Corke squandered the money, racking up debts before stealing Renault's car and returning to the UK to avoid charges of embezzlement. On 1st August 1983, Arne attended a costume fitting for a role in Doctor Who. On his return home, neighbours reported sounds of an argument to the police who subsequently found Arne's body inside his Knightsbridge flat. He had been bludgeoned to death with a stool and log from his fireplace. The prime suspect in Arne's murder was Giuseppe Perusi, a schoolteacher from Italy who had been living rough in a local park, and for whom Arne had been providing food. Four days later, a body matching Perusi's description was found in the River Thames at Wandsworth, having drowned in an apparent suicide. At the subsequent inquest in October 1983, Police concluded that Perusi had beaten the actor to death then killed himself.

Filmography

• The Far Pavilions — The General
• 1983Curse of the Pink Panther — General Bufoni
• 1982Tangiers — Malen
• 1982Trail of the Pink Panther — Col. Bufoni
• 1982Victor/Victoria — Labisse
• 1980Hallelujah, Mary Plum — Art Gallery Manager
• To Serve Them All My Days — Dr Farrington
• 1979Agatha — Hotel Manager
• Hart to Hart
• 1979The Passage — Guide
• 1977Providence — Nils
• Secret Army — Colonel von Schalk
• 1975The Return of the Pink Panther — Colonel Sharki
• Playhouse — Art Gallery Manager
• 1972Antony and Cleopatra — Menas
• 1972Nobody Ordered Love — Leo Richardstone
• 1972Pope Joan — Richard
• The Protectors — Mario Giocvetti
• 1971Murders in the Rue Morgue — Aubert
• 1971Straw Dogs — John Niles
• The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes — Colonel Davidoff
• 1971The Shattered Eye — Gavin
• 1971When Eight Bells Toll — Capt. Imrie
• Department S — Slovic, Segres
• The Main Chance — Ernest Leggatt
• 1969The Oblong Box — Samuel Trench
• 1968Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — Captain of Guard
• The Champions — Margoli
• The Expert — Dr. Hamad
• 1967Battle Beneath the Earth — Arnold Kramer
• Man in a Suitcase
• 1967Poor Cherry — Philip Rick
• This Way for Murder — Worth
• 1966Khartoum — Major Kitchener/Tewfik Pasha; Khedive of Egypt
• 1966The Sandwich Man — Gentleman in Rolls Royce
• The Spies — Copic
• Out of the Unknown — Gavin
• The Mask of Janus — Copic
• 1964The Black Torment — Seymour
• Crane — Michael Harrington
• 1963Girl in the Headlines — Hammond Barker
• The Sentimental Agent — Strink
• Man of the World — Chang
• 1962Night Conspirators — The Old Visitor/Adolf Hitler
• 1962The Pirates of Blood River — Bosu'n Hench
• The Saint — Pablo Enriquez
• Drama 61-67 — Lieutenant
• The Avengers — Cosmo Gallion
• 1961The Hellfire Club — Thomas - Earl of Netherden
• 1961The Secret of Monte Cristo — Boldini
• 1960A Story of David — Doeg
• 1960Conspiracy of Hearts — Lt. Schmidt
• Danger Man — Major Hassler
• 1960Sands of the Desert — Sheikh El Jabez
• 1960Scent of Mystery — Robert Fleming
• 1959Danger Within — Capitano Benucci
• No Hiding Place
• 1958Ice Cold in Alex — British Officer at Oasis
• 1958Intent to Kill — Kral
• 1958The Moonraker — Major Gregg/Edmund Tyler
• 1957High Tide at Noon — Owen MacKenzie
• Overseas Press Club - Exclusive! — Father Maggiore
• 1957Strangers' Meeting — Harry Belair
• 1957Tarzan and the Lost Safari — Dick Penrod
• Armchair Theatre — The Old Visitor
• 1955The Cockleshell Heroes — Marine Stevens
• 1955The Dam Busters — Staff Officer to Air-Vice Marshal Cochrane (uncredited)
• 1955Timeslip — Dr. Stephen Rayner / Jarvis
• 1954Mystery on Bird Island — Henri
• 1954The Men of Sherwood Forest
• 1948Saraband for Dead Lovers — Assailant
• 1944For Those in Peril — Junior Officer