As Sharif Ali, who silently glides from the dunes early within the film and kills Lawrence’s information for consuming from his nicely earlier than taunting him “Have you no worry, English?”, Sharif greater than held his personal towards a star-studded forged which included Peter A’Toole as Lawrence, Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal, Anthony Quinn as Auda and Claude Rains as Dryden.
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Three years after his American debut, Sharif played the title role in Lean’s adaptation of “Doctor Zhivago“, the Boris Pasternak novel about a sensitive man who finds himself torn between his wife and the love of his life against the backdrop of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
Omar Sharif materialized on the global screen in one of the most recognized and iconic shots in film history: a single rider emerging from the shimmering heat of the desert like a mirage.
Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif, the star of “Doctor Zhivago“, has died in Cairo aged 83. The 1968 film was banned in Egypt because he was cast as a Jew.
In a world where the most famous Arabs in the West tend to be infamous, Omar Sharif was like a breath of fresh air. Director Fred Zinnemann said he chose Sharif partly on the suggestion of David Lean.
Sharif, who was raised a Roman Catholic but later converted to Islam, started acting in the 1950s and had his most high-profile roles in the 1960s, when he also starred in “Funny Girl” opposite Barbra Streisand in 1968.
“Even for “Lawrence of Arabia” I didn’t ask to be an worldwide actor”, he said. The couple separated in 1966 – a year after the actor moved to Europe – and ultimately divorced; Sharif never remarried. “The reason I quit is because I wasn’t as good as I used to be”, Sharif told The Guardian at the time.
He also got to play a series of real-life figures, among them Genghis Khan and the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara. In fact, he would earn another Golden Globe for his starring turn in a later epic collaboration with Lean, “Dr. Zhivago”.
It was announced in May that he had Alzheimer’s disease. Yet somehow, under the direction of William Wyler, the romantic chemistry between Nicky Arnstein (his character) and Fanny Brice (Streisand’s character) transcended stereotypes and prejudice.
“I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Omar, and I’m profoundly sad to hear of his passing”. In 2003, he portrayed a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy in the French film “Monsieur Ibrahim“, winning him a Cesar, the French equivalent of the Oscar.
He is survived by a son, Tarek El-Sharif, and two grandsons, Omar Sharif Jr., an actor, and Karim. He played in major competitions and wrote a column for the Chicago Tribune on the game.
He suffered a public embarrassment in 2007, however, when he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and was ordered to take an anger management course for punching a parking valet who refused to accept his European currency. Hamama died in January 2015, with Sharif saying she was the only woman he had ever loved.
Yousra, Egypt’s biggest actress for much of the past 30 years and a close friend of Sharif, compared Sharif to a “clean-cut” diamond.
Born Michel Chalhoub, he was not just the son of Egypt but also of the Levant.
Sharifs son Tarek revealed in May that his father had Alzheimers.
“I wish I could stay as young as the film”, Sharif told The Times then.
In 2003 he was given a one-month suspended prison sentence and a 1,500 euro fine for headbutting a policeman in a Parisian casino.
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In later life Sharif claimed to be baffled by the film’s success, saying it had merely been shots of people on camels walking from one side of the screen to the other.
