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Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: Александр Борисович Годунов; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR. Godunov was born in Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Alexander began his ballet studies in Riga in 1958 in the class with Mikhail Baryshnikov. The two became friends and helped each other throughout their studies throughout their years there. He joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become premier danseur. His teachers... MORE

Alexander Borisovich Godunov (Russian: Александр Борисович Годунов; November 28, 1949 – May 18, 1995) was a Russian-American ballet dancer and film actor, whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR. Godunov was born in Sakhalin, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Alexander began his ballet studies in Riga in 1958 in the class with Mikhail Baryshnikov. The two became friends and helped each other throughout their studies throughout their years there. He joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1971 and rose to become premier danseur. His teachers there included Aleksey Yermolayev. In 1973, he won a gold medal at the Moscow International Competition. After playing Lemisson, the Royal Musician in a 1978 Soviet adaptation of The Thirty-first of June by J. B. Priestley, Godunov became well known in the Soviet Union as a movie actor. His roles included Vronsky in Anna Karenina in 1974. On August 21, 1979, while on a tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in New York City, Godunov contacted authorities and asked for political asylum. After discovering his absence, the KGB responded by putting his wife, Lyudmila Vlasova, a soloist with the company, on a plane to Moscow, but the flight LESS