Oleg Efremov is a legendary actor, director and founder of the Sovremennik Theater. Its magnetic influence on the female sex was also legendary. Unfortunately, three marriages and many novels did not bring personal happiness to the talented artist. Friends of Efremov admitted that he was not created for family life, giving all his strength and time to the main business - the theater.
With the dream of the Moscow Art Theater
The life path of Oleg Nikolaevich Efremov began on October 1, 1927 in Moscow. The family lived in one of the communal apartments on the Arbat. Thanks to his father, who worked as an accountant in the Gulag, Oleg had some fashionable clothes, a camera and videos appeared early that other children could only dream of. With the beginning of the war, the Efremovs left for Vorkuta, where they lived for two years, then returned to the capital again. From his school years, the future artist took an active part in amateur performances, attended the drama club at the Palace of Pioneers.
In 1945, after the end of the war, Oleg entered the Moscow Art Theater School, despite a competition of 500 people for a place. His course was taught by teachers Vasily Toporkov and Mikhail Kedrov. In his student years, Efremov had a chance to step on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater several times, and he fired up the idea of playing in the legendary theater after graduation. When the ambitious young actor was refused there, he burst into an angry tirade, promising to return and take the post of chief director.
Efremov began his career at the Central Children's Theater. Within its walls, Oleg Nikolaevich very quickly turned into one of the leading actors, and in 1955 he tried his hand as a director of the musical performance "Dimka the Invisible".
Not possessing by nature the appearance of a seducer, Efremov remained so in essence throughout his life. From his youth, he had falls in love and hobbies, and the first experience of family life came during the years of work at the Children's Theater. Lilia Tolmacheva studied in the third year of the Moscow Art Theater School and, like most women, could not resist Oleg's male charm. Soon they signed and settled in the same room with Efremov's parents, partitioning it with a wardrobe. The family union lasted less than a year.
Recalling her short marriage, Tolmacheva noted that she and her ex-husband had a different attitude towards living together. In addition, spouses rarely spent time together, giving all their strength to work. According to rumors, Tolmacheva put an end to the family union, having learned about Efremov's romance with a theater colleague, Margarita Kupriyanova.
True, after parting, the former spouses maintained a good relationship. A few years later, Oleg Nikolaevich even invited Lilia to Sovremennik, where she shone for many years.
Civil marriage
In the 1950s, Efremov, together with a team of young actors, with whom he taught at the Moscow Art Theater School, fired up the idea to revive the traditional theater. In 1956 they presented to the public their first production of "Forever Alive" based on the play by Viktor Rozov. This moment is considered the unofficial date of the creation of Sovremennik. A former student of Oleg Nikolaevich, Galina Volchek, at about the same time introduced him to her friend, Irina Mazuruk.
The girl grew up in an intelligent Moscow family. Her father Ilya Mazuruk was a Hero of the Soviet Union, a polar pilot. Then a stepfather appeared in Irina's life - the author of the novel "Shield and Sword" Vadim Kozhevnikov. Mazuruk graduated from the scriptwriting faculty of VGIK, moved in the circles of Moscow bohemia. At the time of her acquaintance with Efremov, she was only 19 years old.
When the lovers decided to live together, they arranged a magnificent wedding. Although, in fact, the official registration of relations did not take place, since divorce was treated extremely negatively in Soviet society, and Oleg Nikolaevich still remained married to Lilia Tolmacheva. Irina brought her husband to her parents' spacious apartment in the center of Moscow. They did not plan a child, however, upon learning about pregnancy, Mazuruk decided to give birth. So the only daughter of Efremov, Anastasia, was born. By the way, for many years the girl had a dash in the “father” column. And only before entering the first grade, Oleg Nikolaevich corrected this defect, adopting her officially.
According to the heiress of the actor and director, her parents broke up due to the fact that the mother did not have enough attention, and the father could not give it, absorbed in his main brainchild - the theater. In addition, Irina heard rumors about her husband's romance with actress Nina Doroshina. However, the young wife also did not remain faithful to her husband. The family union lasted about 3 years. And all the same, the parting turned out to be painful: Mazuruk, in a fit of emotions, attempted suicide. Fortunately, she was saved, but in relations with Oleg, this gesture did not change anything.
The most patient wife
The next official chosen one of Efremov was the actress Alla Pokrovskaya. She was born in 1937 into the family of the famous opera director Boris Pokrovsky. And Alla's mother, Anna Nekrasova, worked as a director at the Central Children's Theater. The parents did not encourage her daughter's acting ambitions, so Pokrovskaya first entered the Pedagogical Institute at the Faculty of Philology. But a year later she dropped out and began to prepare for admission to the Moscow Art Theater School. Ultimately, the girl managed to become a student at a prestigious theater institute, which she successfully graduated in 1959.
After that, the young actress was accepted into the Sovremennik troupe, where she quickly began to play the main roles. It is worth noting that Alla came to the theater as a married woman. True, she still prefers to hide the name of her first spouse from the press. But the meeting with Efremov made the actress regret her initial choice. After the divorce, she began to live with a new lover. According to the memoirs of Pokrovskaya, their romance developed rapidly, which was often noted by other women who were in a relationship with Oleg Nikolaevich.
Alla's parents categorically did not approve of her choice, considering the famous actor too frivolous. However, living together quickly led the couple to marriage, since Pokrovskaya became pregnant. They signed two weeks before the birth of their son Mikhail, who was born on November 10, 1963.
As in previous relationships, Oleg Nikolaevich showed that he was not created for family life, constantly disappearing in the theater. He also did not intend to remain faithful to his wife. However, Alla courageously endured her husband's lifestyle, independently taking care of the house, raising her son and managing to go on stage at the same time. She left Efremov only 8 years later, and divorced him even later. So this union is the longest in the personal life of the great master.
Among the hobbies of Oleg Nikolaevich were the most beautiful and famous actresses - Nina Doroshina, Irina Miroshnichenko, Anastasia Vertinskaya, Iya Savvina. But in the last years of his life, he preferred solitude. Friends of Efremov say that he was always comfortable alone with himself. Perhaps that is why not a single woman was able to stay with him for long.
