Oleg Pavlovich Tabakov (1935–2018) created a whole gallery of bright and memorable images in theater and cinema, loved, without exaggeration, by all viewers of our country. No less important for Russian culture was his work as the head of such famous theaters as the Moscow Art Theater - Moscow Art Theater. A. P. Chekhov, “Sovremennik” and the theater-studio “Tabakerka” created by him. An actor and director, teacher and public figure, Tabakov was also a brilliant storyteller, the author of several books, a wise and sensitive master of his craft. The vicissitudes of his life and work are told in a book by theater critic Lydia Bogova, supplemented by rare photographs from Tabakov’s archive and his “testaments” published for the first time - reflections on acting.