Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov, CBE FRSA (/ˈjuːstɪnɒf/ or /ˈuːstɪnɒf/; 16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humorist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster, and television presenter. A noted wit and raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. He was also a respected intellectual and diplomat who, in addition to his various academic posts, served as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and President of the World Federalist Movement.

Ustinov was the winner of numerous awards over his life, including two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, Emmy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards for acting, a Grammy Award for best recording for children, as well as the recipient of governmental honours from, amongst others, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. He displayed a unique cultural versatility that has frequently earned him the accolade of a Renaissance man. Miklós Rózsa, composer of the music for Quo Vadis and of numerous concert works, dedicated his String Quartet No. 1, Op. 22 (1950) to Ustinov.

Plato von Ustinov

Baron Plato Grigorievich Ustinov (Russian: Платон Григорьевич Устинов) (1840–1918) was a Russian-born German citizen and the owner of the Hôtel du Parc (Park Hotel) in Jaffa, Ottoman Empire (now Israel).

Biography

Ustinov was born in Russia, younger brother of Mikhail Grigorievich Ustinov, son of Grigori Mikhailovich Ustinov (1803 - 1860) and wife Maria Ivanovna Panshina, paternal nephew of Mikhail Mikhailovich Ustinov (1800 -) and Adrian Mikhailovich Ustinov (1802 -), paternal grandson of Mikhail Adrianovich Ustinov (1775 - 1836) and wife Varvara Guerassimovna Ossorgina (- 1808) and great-grandson of Adrian Mikhailovich Ustinov and wife.

He was an aristocrat who held a manor estate in Ustinovka (Устиновка) in today's Balashov Raion. He travelled to the Levant after his doctors recommended its climate to heal his lung disease. On his way there, he met Peter Martin Metzler (1824–1907) and his wife Dorothea, née Bauer (1831–1870), who both worked in Jaffa as Protestant missionaries for the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission. The couple earned their livelihood through several enterprises, including a steam mill, a pilgrim hostel, and trading in imported European merchandise. From mid-1861 until early 1862, Ustinov stayed in the Metzlers' hostel, eventually becoming a financial partner in their enterprises. Once his lung disease was completely cured, he returned to Ustinovka, but left the Metzlers a considerable sum of money to enable them to establish a missionary school and an infirmary in Jaffa.