Alexander Godunov

Early life 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.

Career Dance 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. He received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. After playing Vronsky in 1975's Anna Karenina The incident was dramatized in the Soviet docudrama film Flight 222 (1985). 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. The couple divorced in 1982. 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). He declined roles that typecast him as a dancer or as an action villain, as in Die Hard.

In 1981, Godunov began dating actress Jacqueline Bisset after meeting her at a party in New York City. They broke up in 1988.

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."

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 1990 The Runestone Sigvaldson, The Clockmaker 1992 Waxwork II: Lost in Time Scarabis 1994 North Amish Dad 1995 The Dogfighters Lothar Krasna Final film role