The memoir
Oleg: A Memoir
"The Robert Redford of Soviet Cinema." Deborah Caulfield, Los Angeles Times
Out 9 November 2026.
About the book
His greatest performance was surviving tyranny
At the height of the Cold War, Oleg Vidov was "the only sex symbol Russia ever had." By the age of twenty-five he had starred in some of the country's top-grossing films.
But in the Soviet Union, such success could be erased overnight. His meteoric rise to stardom, along with his marriage to a member of the Soviet elite, landed Oleg in the inner circle of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. When his power-hungry ex-wife turned against him, he saw his spectacular career dismantled.
The book is told mainly in Oleg's own words, written before his death, and through the archival material and interviews his wife Joan gathered from his co-stars, friends and colleagues.
Inside
Contents
- 00Prologue: To Oleg with Love
- 01Stories from My Childhood
- 02Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- 03My First Roles
- 04A Star Is Born
- 05The Red Mantle
- 06There Are No Small Parts, Only Small Actors
- 07Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
- 08On a Roll
- 09Trouble in Paradise
- 10Moscow, My Love
- 11The Great Escape
- 12All Roads Lead to Rome
- 13Down and Out in Beverly Hills
- 14Red Heat
- 15Wild Orchid
- 16Back in the U.S.S.R.
- 17Up, Up, and Away
- 18And Then We Were Three
- 19From Russia with Love
- 20The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- 21Amerika, Amerika
- 22Forgiven
- 23I'll Do It My Way
- 24Epilogue: Oleg, Farewell!
Get the book
Out 9 November 2026
$29.99. Order details and the buy link are on the shop page.