Sacha Piatigorsky
- Actor
Sasha was born in Moscow in 1932. He was the son of Moses, a Chief
Engineer in a large Artillery plant. Sasha worked in the plant when it
was relocated to the Urals during WW2. Later Sasha graduated from the
Moscow State University, where he deliberately antagonized the
authorities by converting to Lamaist Buddhism shortly after it was
proscribed. Sasha's early work was on ancient Indic culture and
religion, which was viewed by some as a subtly indirect way of
attacking the Soviet system. Consequently he was followed extensively
by the KGB until he emigrated to Israel in 1972. From there he moved to
Oxford and then onto SOAS in London University. He is still a part-time
Professor at SOAS. He is known generally as a philosopher. During this
time he had four wives and five children.