Full name, Alexander Boris Godunov; born November 28, 1949, in Ujno-Sakalin,formerly of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; died of acute alcoholism, May 18, 1995, in West Hollywood, CA. Dancer and actor. A Bolshoi ballet star for thirteen years, and winner of the Gold Medal at the second Moscow International dance competition in 1973, Godunov defected to the United States inAugust, 1979, during a Soviet dance tour in New York City. Once the youngestprincipal dancer in the Bolshoi, Godunov also became the first to defect fromthe prestigious institute. He immediately became a member of the American Ballet Theatre--from 1979 to 1982-- and became a naturalized American citizen in 1987. The dancer appeared on television in the 1983 PBS special Godunov: The World to Dance In, and subsequently worked as an actor in several successful films, including Witness in 1985, The Money Pit in 1986, Die Hard in 1988,and North in 1994. A final project included work in a movie filmed in Hungary.
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