D 1988 Die Hard Karl

No films in this section.

1. 1

   Godunov's ashes were scattered over the Pacific Ocean; his memorial is in Los Angeles. The epitaph on his grave reads: "His future remained in the past."

2. 2

   Alexander Godunov died suddenly on May 18, 1995, at his home in West Hollywood; doctors found no traces of violence, no injuries, and no signs of alcohol or drugs in his blood.

3. 3

   In 1958 Godunov entered the Riga Choreographic School, from which he graduated in 1967; from 1967 to 1971 he danced with the State Choreographic Ensemble "Classical Ballet."

4. 4

   Godunov was accepted into the American Ballet Theatre company, where he performed as a principal dancer until 1982, leaving after a quarrel with his friend and company director Mikhail Baryshnikov; for a time he performed with his own company. He then left ballet and began a film career, and for a long time maintained a close relationship with film actress Jacqueline Bisset (until 1988).

5. 5

   Full name: Alexander Borisovich Godunov.

6. 6

   On August 23, 1979, during the Bolshoi Theatre's tour in New York, Godunov asked the American authorities for political asylum; after news of his absence, the Soviet authorities sent Godunov's wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, the only member of the troupe, by plane to Moscow. However, the plane was detained by the American authorities right before takeoff, and the State Department demanded evidence that Vlasova was returning to the USSR voluntarily. Following this, the leaders of the USSR and the USA, Leonid Brezhnev and Jimmy Carter, became involved in the incident; in the end, after 3 days, the plane with Vlasova was allowed to fly to the USSR.

7. 7

   Godunov's symbolic grave is located at the Vvedenskoye Cemetery in Moscow.