“Oleg Dal is an actor for the ages!” said Valentin Gaft. Principled, deadly sharp-witted, with unbreakable inner freedom—Dal was an “inconvenient” actor in the eyes of officials. He could suddenly leave the theater and abandon a production just a few days before the premiere. Yet directors considered him an outstanding performer with a wide range of acting possibilities. When Dal died, a huge crowd gathered in the square in front of the Maly Theatre. Thousands of people from all over the country came to say goodbye to an actor who had no titles or awards…
In this book, film scholar Natalya Galadzheva has collected reflections, diary entries, and poems by the famous actor, as well as memories of him by Lyudmila Gurchenko, Vasily Aksenov, Oleg Tabakov, and many others. What is the secret behind his tragic fate? And why did such a talented actor leave so early—disappointed, underestimated, not fitting into the framework of the era?