PERSONALITY CULT

Former Spy’s Dying Plea
As he lay dying in London’s University College Hospital in November 2006, exiled former KGB and FSB agent Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko was being filmed by documentarian Andrei Nekrasov. He told Nekrasov: “If anything should happen to me, I beg you to show this tape to the world.” Nekrasov kept the promise he made to his friend, who died three weeks after falling ill from what was later discovered to be radiation poisoning from a lethal dose of Polonium-210 in his tea, believed to have been slipped in during a meeting with two of his former FSB (Russia’s modern-day secret police) colleagues. Nekrasov’s startling documentary, Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File, was released last Friday. “It was shocking to see him (in hospital),” says Nekrasov. “He was really young and loved life. Knowing that it was more a vengeance for his politics made it worse.” (LATWP)

Love that Speaks its Name
Christopher Isherwood met Don Bachardy on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., in 1953. The author of Goodbye to Berlin was 49, a rebellious upper class Brit, world traveller and running partner of W H Auden. Bachardy was 18, a star-struck southern California boy with a gap-toothed smile. It was the beginning of a relationship that would last until Isherwood’s death in 1986, a relationship explored in Guido Santi and Tina Mascara’s intimate, documentary, Chris & Don: A Love Story. It wasn’t easy for Bachardy. Bachardy, now in his 70s, is the film’s witty raconteur who guides us through their story. As Isherwood’s death approached, Bachardy sat by his side, drawing portraits of his mentor. Then he spent a day drawing his corpse, knowing that Isherwood would have told him, “That’s what an artist would do.” (LATWP)

Baring the Tale
Craig Seymour, 39, took the stage in a G-string at a gay club. He was a PhD student and stripper. Now a teacher, he discusses All I Could Bare, his memoir of disrobing.

Q: Why stripping?
Being a stripper allowed me to take risks in other things. The (Washington) Post sent me (on a freelance assignment) to NY to interview Mariah Carey. Once you can stand on a bar naked in front of strangers, it gives you the confidence to stand in front of one of the biggest pop singers of the world. I thought it would help me make peace around the issues I had with body. (LATWP)