[4][5][6] His father Andras Peter (1903–1944), an esteemed art historian[7] and third-generation Catholic who was fond of England, was killed by Hungarian Nazis in 1944 because of his Jewish ancestry.
[3] When he was 13 his mother remarried, to Gery Prasnovsky, who lived in impoverished circumstances in a village 60 miles south of Budapest.
[2][3] Peter worked at Forte's Milk Bar, and continued to learn the English language and British customs.
[1][17] Peter began his career while still a post-graduate student at Oxford writing a dissertation on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
[18] He was interviewed and asked to submit a few short reviews of university productions which he had been writing in the Oxford student newspapers The Isis Magazine and Cherwell.
It is classical acting, with its twin demands of psychological perception and formal excellence, which truly tests and proves the actor's ability and stamina, both physical and mental.
There is no filming and no outside press, and there are no acceptance speeches; the awards are attended however by Britain's theatre royalty, who take great interest in preserving the foundations of their profession.
Prize recipients and shortlist nominees receive a plaque signed by the judges, who usually number four and until 2017 always included Peter.
As the founding judge of the Ian Charleson Awards, Peter was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to theatre.