Oleg Vidov

Oleg Vidov
Oleg Vidov, Studio City, California on March 8, 2013
Born	(1943-06-11) June 11, 1943 (age 73) Filimonki, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Actor

Oleg Borisovich Vidov (Russian: Олег Борисович Видов; born 11 June 1943) is a Soviet/American actor. He appeared in 50 films since 1961. He was a sex symbol of his generation in the Soviet Union, and many of his films are still played on Russian television today.

In the early 1980s Vidov directed a short film critical of Soviet transportation policies, and as a result he was no longer allowed to tour Eastern bloc countries. In 1983, he was given permission to live and work in Yugoslavia with his second wife who herself was a Yugoslavian actress. In May 1985, Soviet authorities unexpectedly gave him 72 hours to return to Moscow, so an Austrian actor friend helped procure an Austrian visa for him. Together they drove to the Yugoslavian-Austrian border where he escaped into Austria. Vidov was then able to emigrate to the U.S. under a refugee visa from the American embassy in Rome obtained with the help of the International Rescue Committee. Oleg and his wife obtained international distribution rights to the award-winning Soyuzmultfilm Studio animation library in 1992 and helped popularize Soviet animation around the world.

Today, Vidov is Chairman of the Board at Malibu Beach Recovery Center, a drug treatment facility in Malibu, California. Oleg and his wife Joan Borsten-Vidov, who is the CEO, acquired the center in yet another business venture when they purchased it from Dr. Yakov Marshak (the facility was previously known as the Marshak Clinic). The Malibu Beach Recovery Center has been featured on television shows such as A&E's Intervention and Oprah.