June 09, 2025

Remembering James Lloydovich Patterson


Remembering James Lloydovich Patterson
James Lloydovich Patterson with a death mask of Pushkin. Andy Leddy

James Lloydovich Patterson, poet, child film star, and former naval officer of the Soviet Black Sea fleet, passed away peacefully at the age of 91 on May 22.

Though he spent the last 30 years of his life in Washington D.C., James’ life began in Moscow, where he was born in 1933.

James' father, Lloyd Walton Patterson, was an African-American from New York seeking an occupation in the arts. Though Lloyd studied design at the Hampton Institute, racial prejudice in America limited his job opportunities to manual labor. In 1932, in an effort to seek new opportunity, Lloyd responded to a newspaper article asking for African-American volunteers to work on a “Soviet film on negro life.” He was accepted, and in June of that same year Lloyd arrived in Moscow among an impressive team of 22 African-American writers, actors, and poets, including Langston Hughes, Dorothy West, and Wayland Rudd.

Though the project fell through, while in Moscow Lloyd met James’ mother, the Ukrainian set-designer Vera Aralova. While most of the American team returned home, Lloyd stayed and married Vera. In 1933, James was born.

Lloyd and James Patterson
Lloyd and James Patterson | Andy Leddy

James was immediately thrust into a life of art, cast as Jimmy in the popular 1936 Soviet film Circus (Цирк). He played the biracial child of Lyubov Orlova's Marion Dixon, a famous American circus performer who flees to Russia to protect Jimmy from violent persecution. She finds work in the Moscow Circus, and the film culminates as her jealous and abusive agent angrily interrupts her act to reveal to the audience that Marion has a black son. The agent expects a scandal, and is stunned when the audience laughs at his rant, uniting around Jimmy and singing him lullabies in the various languages of the ethnic groups within the Soviet Union. Though the film’s messaging was overt and propogandist, Marion’s journey of finding an accepting home in Russia reflected that of James’ father, and he himself, like Jimmy, was celebrated and loved in Russia from early childhood as a symbol of unity and acceptance.

Poster for Circus(1936) dir. Grigori Alekandrov
Poster for Circus(1936), directed by Grigori Aleksandrov. James Patterson, age three, is held aloft.

When James grew up, he enrolled in the Nahkimov Naval Cadet School, and later the Naval Academy in Leningrad. He served as a submarine officer of the Soviet Black Sea fleet until 1957, when he began his literary career.

A Russian poet of mixed-race heritage, James was inspired by and compared to Alexander Pushkin, whose African ancestry formed a central, though often overlooked, part of his identity. James studied at the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow, graduating in 1964. In the same year, his first book, Chronicle of the Left Hand, was published.

James’s father passed away in 1942 due to complications with an injury he had received during a Nazi raid on Moscow. Vera continued to enjoy success as an artist, eventually becoming the head of Moscow’s House of Fashion. She and James both maintained flourishing careers, finding prominence in the world of Russian art.

Vera and James moved to the United States in 1995 after struggling in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. James continued to work as a poet, but after Vera’s death in 2001, he eased back from public life. James spent the last years of his life in Washington, D.C., enjoying the city’s poetry, art, and culture among friends and loved ones.

James Patterson and Wynton Marsalis
James Patterson and Wynton Marsalis | Andy Leddy

James Patterson’s legacy as a child star, naval officer, and celebrated poet, as well as his remarkable life story, will be remembered by Russians and Americans alike.

You Might Also Like

The Power of the Zine
  • May 15, 2024

The Power of the Zine

Artist Anna Dial uses updated samizdat methods to publish her "zines" and avoid censorship. 
A Photographer's Empathy
  • February 23, 2024

A Photographer's Empathy

Documentary photographer Dmitry Markov, renowned for his heartfelt portrayal of authentic Russia, has passed away.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Moscow and Muscovites
November 26, 2013

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Russian Rules
November 16, 2011

Russian Rules

From the shores of the White Sea to Moscow and the Northern Caucasus, Russian Rules is a high-speed thriller based on actual events, terrifying possibilities, and some really stupid decisions.

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955