Alexander Godunov

Alexander Borisovich Godunov
Born	(1949-11-28)November 28, 1949 Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR
Died	May 18, 1995(1995-05-18) (aged 45) West Hollywood, California, United States
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	Ballet Dancer Actor Ballet coach

Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: Александр Борисович Годунов; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995), nicknamed "Sascha" was a Russian-American danseur and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR.

Biography

Godunov was born in Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Alexander began his ballet studies in Riga in 1958 in the class with Mikhail Baryshnikov. The two became friends and helped each other throughout their studies throughout their years there. He joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become premier danseur.^[1] His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev.^[2] In 1973, he won a gold medal at the Moscow International Competition.^{[citation needed]}

After playing Lemisson, the Royal Musician in a 1978 Soviet adaptation of The Thirty-first of June by J. B. Priestley, Godunov became well known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor. His roles included Vronsky in Anna Karenina in 1974.

Defection from USSR

On August 21, 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City, Godunov contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. After discovering his absence, the KGB responded by putting his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the company, on a plane to Moscow, but the flight was stopped before take-off while the State Department tried to determine whether she was leaving voluntarily. US diplomats arrived at the plane with a US passport ready for Vlasova, but she declined, so authorities allowed the flight.^[1][3]

Then U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev became involved in the incident. Finally, after three days, the plane was allowed to take off, returning Vlasova to her family in Russia. Godunov spent a year trying to get her back, but to no avail. The two of them were divorced in 1982.^[1]

Later career

Godunov joined the American Ballet Theater and danced as a principal until 1982 when he had a falling-out with his long-time friend and director of the company Mikhail Baryshnikov. The official reason for his release from the company was that there would not be sufficient roles for him after a change in the repertory and he was fired.^[1] He traveled with his own troupes, danced as a guest artist with different prominent ballet companies worldwide, and turned to acting in Hollywood.

Godunov's roles were varied, including a good-natured Amish farmer in Witness (1985), a comically narcissistic symphony conductor (referred to as "the maestro") in The Money Pit (1986), and a violent German terrorist in Die Hard (1988). He seemed to be destined for stardom, but turned down many roles which typecast him as a dancer or a villain like in "Die Hard." His career was sidelined for quite some time.

He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1987.^[1] He was also involved in a long-standing romance with actress Jacqueline Bisset, which ended in 1988.

Death

On May 18, 1995 his friends became concerned when he had been uncharacteristically quiet with his phone calls. A nurse who had not heard from him since May 8 went to his home in the Shoreham Towers, West Hollywood, California, where Godunov was found dead of alcohol abuse with complications from hepatitis.^[1] He was 45 years old.

It was not immediately clear how long he had been dead. In a statement issued shortly after his death, Godunov's publicist, Evelyn Shriver said "He did not have AIDS, or commit suicide... This was a very happy time of his life..."

His ashes were released into the Pacific Ocean; his memorial at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the epitaph "His future remained in the past."

Filmography as dancer

Filmography as actor

See also

Biography portal

• List of Russian ballet dancers
• List of Eastern Bloc defectors

References

External links

• Alexander Godunov at the Internet Movie Database
• Alexander Godunov at Find a Grave