PERSONALITY CULT

Former Spy8217;s Dying Plea
As he lay dying in London8217;s University College Hospital in November 2006, exiled former KGB and FSB agent Alexander 8220;Sasha8221; Litvinenko was being filmed by documentarian Andrei Nekrasov. He told Nekrasov: 8220;If anything should happen to me, I beg you to show this tape to the world.8221; 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 Russia8217;s modern-day secret police colleagues. Nekrasov8217;s startling documentary, Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File, was released last Friday. 8220;It was shocking to see him in hospital,8221; says Nekrasov. 8220;He was really young and loved life. Knowing that it was more a vengeance for his politics made it worse.8221; 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 Isherwood8217;s death in 1986, a relationship explored in Guido Santi and Tina Mascara8217;s intimate, documentary, Chris 038; Don: A Love Story. It wasn8217;t easy for Bachardy. Bachardy, now in his 70s, is the film8217;s witty raconteur who guides us through their story. As Isherwood8217;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, 8220;That8217;s what an artist would do.8221; 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