[5] In 1949, he graduated from Moscow Art Theatre School and became an actor and later a producer of the Central Children Theater, started teaching at School-Studio by himself.

In 1956, having gathered around himself students and graduates of the School-Studio, both his coevals and pupils, Oleg Yefremov organized the Studio of Young Actors (subsequently — the Moscow famous Sovremennik Theatre and became its first director.

His father served as an accountant in the Gulag system, and the future actor spent a part of his adolescence in the Vorkutlag camps, where he became closely acquainted with the criminal world.

[5] From 1949 to 1956, Yefremov worked at the Central Children's Theater, where he played more than 20 roles, including Ivan ("Humpbacked Horse"), Coviel ("The Philistine in the Nobility"), Kostya Poletayev ("Pages of Life"), Alexey ( "In a good time!").

On the stage of "Contemporary" he played in the performances "Forever Living" (Boris), "Destination" (Lyamin), "Nobody" (Vincenzo De Pretore).

He staged Anton Chekhov's plays: "Ivanov" (1976), "The Seagull" (1980), "Uncle Vanya" (1985), "The Cherry Orchard" (1989), "The Three Sisters" (1997).