Alexander Borisovich Godunov, Soviet and American ballet dancer and film actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, one of the brightest figures in the history of Russian and foreign ballet art.
Despite the reluctance of young Alexander to learn to dance (he wanted to become a military man, like his father), his mother, Lydia Nikolaevna, sent him to the Riga Choreographic School in 1958. The family just moved from Sakhalin to Riga after their parents divorced. Choreography training determined the further career of Alexander Godunov.
Career path
The artist graduated from the choreographic school in 1967. Until 1971 he danced in the State Choreographic Ensemble "Classical Ballet" (under the direction of Igor Moiseev). And in 1971 Alexander entered the Bolshoi Ballet Company, where he performed many brilliant roles in famous ballet productions, including Swan Lake (PI Tchaikovsky), Anna Karenina (R. Shchedrin), Chopiniana (Chopin), Don Quixote (L. Minkus), Illumination (A. Pakhmutova), Giselle (A. Adam), Ivan the Terrible (S. Prokofiev), La Bayadère (L. Minkus), "Romeo and Juliet" (S. Prokofiev), etc.
During a tour of the Bolshoi Theater in New York in August 1979, Alexander appeals to the American authorities with a request to grant political asylum. The Soviet authorities sent his wife Lyudmila Vlasova - she also danced in the troupe - on a plane to Moscow, but the American authorities detained the plane just before takeoff, demanding proof of Vlasova's voluntary return from the USSR. After the leaders of the states Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter were involved in this incident, the plane was allowed to fly to Moscow.
Based on the events of August 1979, the film "Flight 222" was filmed, but the ballet dancers in the film were replaced by athletes.
For a year, Godunov unsuccessfully sought the return of his wife. The couple divorced in 1982. In the same year, the contract with the American Ballet Theater was not renewed due to disagreements with Mikhail Baryshnikov (the head of the troupe).
For a long time, Alexander Borisovich performed with his own troupe and toured as a guest star in the USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Australia. In 1985, the artist left ballet and returned to his career as a film actor, begun in the USSR: he took part in the filming of the films The Witness (1985), The Money Pit (1986), Die Hard (1988), The Museum of Wax Figures 2: Lost in Time "(1992)," The Zone "(1995).
For seven years, Alexander Godunov maintained a close relationship with the film actress Jacqueline Bisset.
Mysterious death
The circumstances of the death of Alexander Godunov still raise many questions. On May 18, 1995, Alexander's friends noticed the absence of phone calls from the artist, which was extremely unusual for him. A nurse sent to his California home found 45-year-old Alexander dead. According to the official version, the death occurred as a result of a "mixture" of alcohol and chronic hepatitis, but the examination did not reveal signs of the presence of drugs or alcohol in the blood of the deceased.
The ashes of Alexander Godunov were scattered over the Pacific Ocean, the memorial is located in Los Angeles.
