Alexander Godunov

Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; November 28, 1949 – May 1995)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor. A member of the Bolshoi Ballet, he became the troupe's Premier danseur. In 1979, he defected to the United States. While continuing to dance, he also began working as a supporting actor in Hollywood films. He had prominent roles in films such as Witness (1985) and Die Hard (1988).

Early life and dance career

Godunov was born in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, USSR) in the Russian Far East. He began his ballet studies at the age of nine in Riga in 1958 in the same class as Mikhail Baryshnikov. He said his mother put him in ballet to prevent him from becoming "a hooligan".<ref name=NYTimes>Template:Cite news</ref> He and Baryshnikov became friends and helped each other throughout their years there.

Godunov joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become Premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev.<ref>Template:Cite videoTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In 1973, Godunov won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition.<ref name="Indep Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> He received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. After playing Vronsky in 1975's Anna Karenina<ref name="Indep Obit"/> and Lemisson, the Royal minstrel, in the 1978 film version of J. B. Priestley's 31 June, he became well-known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor.

Defection from the 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 takeoff. After three days, with involvement by President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, the U.S. State Department was satisfied that Vlasova had chosen to return to the Soviet Union of her own free will and allowed the plane to depart.<ref name=sovsp120324/><ref name="Miami 1979">Template:Cite news</ref> The incident was dramatized in the Soviet docudrama film, Flight 222 (1985).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vlasova later said that while Godunov loved American culture and had long desired to live in the United States, she felt she was "too Russian" to live in the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The couple divorced in 1982.<ref name=NYTimes/>

Later career

Godunov joined American Ballet Theatre and danced as a principal dancer until 1982, when he had a falling-out with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the director of the company. A press release for American Ballet Theatre stated a change in the troupe's repertoire did not provide Godunov with sufficient roles. Following his release, he traveled with his own troupe and danced as a guest artist around the world with a number of prominent ballet troupes.

Godunov also began working in Hollywood as a film actor.<ref name=levitt>Template:Cite journal</ref> His acting roles included an Amish farmer in Witness (1985), a comically narcissistic symphony conductor in The Money Pit (1986), and one of the thieves in Die Hard (1988).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He declined roles that typecast him as a dancer or as an action villain, as in Die Hard.<ref name=levitt/> In the mid-1990s, he appeared in Canadian television commercials for Labatt Ice beer.

Personal life

Godunov married Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, in 1971.<ref name="Indep Obit"/> The couple had no children and divorced in 1982 after a long separation.<ref name=folkart>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1981, Godunov began dating actress Jacqueline Bisset after meeting her at a party in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They broke up in 1988.<ref name=levitt/>

According to author Herbie J Pilato, Godunov had an affair with actress Elizabeth Montgomery while she was in a relationship with (but not yet married to) Robert Foxworth.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Coincidentally, Godunov was found dead on the same day as Montgomery's death,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> although it was believed he had been deceased for several days prior.

Godunov became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1987.<ref name="NYTimes" />

Death

Godunov drank alcohol to excess, which affected his health as he got older. On May 18, 1995, Godunov's friends became concerned after an uncharacteristic lack of phone calls from him. A nurse, who had not heard from him since May 8, went to his home in the Shoreham Towers, West Hollywood, California, where his body was discovered. He had been dead for several days.<ref name=levitt/> Godunov's death was determined to be due to complications from hepatitis secondary to chronic alcoholism.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Godunov was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean. A memorial to him at Gates Mortuary in Los Angeles is engraved with the epitaph "His future remained in the past."Template:Citation needed

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Carmen-suite	Jose
1971	Moscow Fantasy	Young Dancer	Uncredited
1975	Anna Karenina	Alexei Vronsky
1978	31 June	Lemisson, The Royal Musician
1980	A Portrait of Giselle	Himself
1983	Godunov: The World To Dance In	Himself
1985	Witness	Daniel Hochleitner
1986	The Money Pit	Max Beissart, The Maestro
1988	Die Hard	Karl Vreski	Main Cast
1990	The Runestone	Sigvaldson, The Clockmaker
1992	Waxwork II: Lost in Time	Scarabis
1994	North	Amish Dad
1995	Dogfighters	Lothar Krasna	(final film role)

See also

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

External links

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