His future remained in the past

- Alexander Gudinov with girlfriend, Jacqueline Bisset

Thinking more about ballet, I was reminded of a former dancer and actor, now deceased, Alexander Godunov. I remember him, I guess, mostly because he seemed like such a sad guy - Russian, and a dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, he defected while on tour in the US. His wife, another dancer with the ballet, had to go back to Russia because of her family, and though he tried for a year to get her out, he was unsuccessful. He danced for a while with Baryshnikov's company, the American Ballet Theater, but they had a falling out and he turned to Hollywood and movies. He was in not so many, the most memorable probably Die Hard and Witness. He died of alcoholism and complications of hepatitis at the age of 45 ..... the epitaph engraved on his memorial read, His future remained in the past.

Here's a YouTube I found of him dancing with the Bolshoi ......