GENEVA, April 3: The Oscar-winning actor, writer and wit Peter Ustinov was laid to rest on Saturday in a private burial near his home in the western Swiss village of Bursins.

Tributes were paid earlier at St Pierre cathedral in the nearby city of Geneva, in a sober and serene service attended by about 400 people including his wife and four children, diplomats, senior UN and local officials.

Israeli concert violinist and friend Ivry Gitlis played a farewell lullaby to the 82 year-old British actor by his coffin, which was covered with bouquets of white and pale yellow flowers.

Ustinov, who was also revered for his humanitarian work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), died at a clinic close to Bursins on March 29.

Paying tribute to the actor's undampened "compassion and his relentless sense of mission," UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy conveyed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's condoleances to the family.

Annan gave his "heartfelt thanks" for Ustinov's "lifelong drive to make a real difference in the lives of our most precious natural resource - the world's children," she said.

"This is an extraordinarily sad occasion, all the more so because Sir Peter was such a funny man and the world can scarcely afford the loss of such a rich source of laughter," Bellamy added.-AFP