Alexander Godunov

Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: ; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) 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 and Die Hard. 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". 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. In 1973, Godunov won a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition. After playing Vronsky in 1976's Anna Karenina 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, receiving the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1976.