The actor and director Oleg Nikolaevich Efremov is a fantastically famous person. In 1956, he created the Sovremennik Theater, and from 1970 to 2000 he directed the main theater of the twentieth century, the Moscow Art Theater. Numerous film roles brought him national love. His name is covered in legends; many consider him the face of his time. Soviet mythology is now in fashion. Adults each have their own memories, while young people get information about the USSR from TV shows and prints on T-shirts. Efremov, already a legend himself, in his youth also went through the Soviet myth, but from the inside: he lived and worked in the twentieth century. Understanding Efremov’s star-tragic path means getting closer to understanding the Soviet Union and the reasons for its collapse. Elena Chernikova’s documentary novel-dialogue “Oleg Efremov: Theater Man” is addressed not only to fans of Efremov, but also to the younger generation, to whom this name means little. The reader will find here a lot of information about Soviet times, about theatrical life, about the behavior of a creative person in a turning point.