Actor Omar Sharif is dead – Aftenposten

Sharif was among the very few Arab actors who broke through in Hollywood. Earlier this year it became known that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

– He suffered a heart attack this afternoon at a hospital in Cairo, said Sharif’s agent Steve Kenis told the BBC Friday.

Sharif became internationally known when he made his first English-speaking role in the 1962 movie “Lawrence of Arabia”. He was nominated for Supporting Actor Oscar for his efforts as Sherif Ali and also won a Golden Globe.

Later came Sharif up with the title role in “Doctor Zhivago” in 1965, and for his efforts he received a new Golden Globe.

Mathematics Student

Later came “Funny Girl” – and “Funny Lady” films, in which he starred opposite Barbra Streisand. Omar Sharif, who made his last film in 2013 with “Rock the Casbah”, where he only appears in the prologue – as a recently deceased wealthy industrialist whose family gather to mourn.

Omar Sharif was born 10 April 1932, a wealthy Roman Catholic family in Alexandria and was named Michel Shalhoub. He became interested in acting while studying mathematics and physics at a university in Cairo. But Sharif worked for many years in his father’s lumber business before he realized his dream in 1954. When he got to play against the Middle East’s biggest female movie star, Faten Hamam, in “The Blazing Sun” (“Sira’a FI al-Wadi”).

sex symbol

The following year, he converted to Islam, married a hammam and changed its name. The couple had a son, Tarek, who played Jurij in “Doctor Zhivago” at the age of eight years. In 1974, the hammam and Sharif each to his own. After the divorce he went back to Christianity.

Despite Sharif’s image as a sex symbol and a coveted bachelor, married movie star never again. The reason was simple: He was never in love with another woman, he said himself.

– I have always been extremely lucky in life, said Sharif to television channel Al Jazeera when he was reflecting on whether he had been a happier man if he had been in Egypt, where he had a nice family and had already been a star.

Solitaire

– I never asked to become an international actor, not even for “Lawrence of Arabia”. When I went to America and became famous, I got the glory, but I was also lonely, told the then 75 year old Sharif.

– Missed by my own country, my own people and my own family has been great, said film star.

Alongside film career marked Sharif also as one of the world’s best bridge players. He wrote several books about the game, and since 1992 have been able to buy the computer game “Omar Sharif Bridge.”

Sharif appeared on the canvas also in his old age. For many years he was also a member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival. At the same festival he won in 2003 audience award for her role in the film “Monsieur Ibrahim and Quranic flowers.”

Published: 10.jul. 2015 4:47 p.m.