Alexander Drankov - Later Years

Later Years

We know about this period of Drankov’s life from contradictory accounts of his acquaintances. He first tried to make profit by selling jewellery in Kiev, then moved to Yalta and began shooting pornographic films. In November 1920, he emigrated to Constantinople, where he made his living by either organizing cockroach racing events, according to one account, or by film distribution and maintaining an amusement park, according to another account. In 1922, Drankov moved to the United States of America, where he would buy a mobile cinema projector and show films to Russian immigrants. In 1927, he made an attempt to return to film-making business, but his intention to shoot a major film about a love affair between Nicholas II and ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska turned out to be a failure. After his unsuccessful attempt to gain a foothold in Hollywood, Alexander Drankov opened a café in Venice, California, but soon moved to San Francisco, where he would work in his own photo company until his death on January 3, 1949 in San Francisco. He is buried in Colma, California.