Memoir of Soviet Film Star Oleg Vidov Released on Berlin Wall Anniversary

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / November 12, 2026 / Oleg Vidov: A Memoir is now available from Vidov Publishing. Released on November 9, the anniversary of the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, the book tells the story of a Soviet film star who left the country at the height of his fame and rebuilt his career in the United States.

A Film Career That Ended in Exile

By the age of 25, Vidov had starred in several of the largest Soviet productions of his generation and was recognized across the country. His marriage to a member of the Soviet elite brought him into the circle surrounding Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, an unusual position for an actor during the Cold War.

That position did not last. After the marriage ended, Vidov was blacklisted, threatened and stripped of his ability to work. With his career closed to him, he crossed the border illegally and sought a new life in the West.

The memoir describes those years in his own words, including the decision to leave a country he still loved.

A Second Career in the United States

Vidov settled in Los Angeles and returned to acting. His American credits include Red Heat, Wild Orchid and Thirteen Days.

He also worked as a producer. With his wife, the journalist Joan Borsten Vidov, he acquired a library of Soviet animated films that was almost unknown outside the country. Vidov oversaw the digital restoration of the collection, directed the celebrity actors who revoiced the original Russian actors, and licensed the restored films to television broadcasters in numerous countries around the world.

Outside the film industry, he worked with a cargo airline that flew humanitarian flights for international relief agencies, and he helped establish an addiction treatment center in Malibu that now serves first responders.

A Book Begun by One Author and Finished by Another

Vidov wrote most of the memoir in Russian before his death. Antonina W. Bouis translated those writings into English.

Joan Borsten Vidov completed the book. She interviewed his co-stars, friends and colleagues, and worked through archival material that had not been published before, adding detail and correcting parts of the public record.

“Happiness belongs to the risk-takers. I have always followed my heart and that is my freedom,” Vidov wrote.

The release date was chosen for its meaning. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, an event that came to stand for the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of Communist rule across Central and Eastern Europe. The memoir follows the award-winning documentary Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story, which covered the same life for film audiences.

Book Details and Availability

Title: Oleg Vidov: A Memoir

Authors: Oleg Vidov and Joan Borsten Vidov

Translator: Antonina W. Bouis

Publisher: Vidov Publishing

Publication date: November 9, 2026

ISBN: 979-8-218-50156-3

Category: Biography and Autobiography, Entertainment and Performing Arts

Availability: Major book retailers

A collection of Vidov’s Russian poetry, And I Will Find My Way, is also available in hardcover. Photographs and further information are posted at OlegVidov.com, and updates are shared on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Joan Borsten Vidov is available for interviews on Soviet cinema, life inside the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Vidov’s blacklisting and departure, his years in Los Angeles, and the work of completing the memoir.

About Oleg Vidov

Oleg Vidov (1943 to 2017) was a Soviet and American actor, director and producer who appeared in more than 50 films. He starred in leading Soviet productions before leaving the country in 1985 and continued his career in the United States, where he also restored and distributed a library of Soviet animated films. Oleg Vidov: A Memoir is published by Vidov Publishing.

Media Contact
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SOURCE: VP Media Agency LLC

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire