The funeral service will be held at Mushir Tantawi mosque in eastern Cairo, where key religious ceremonies are often held, said Sameh El Soreity, board member of the Egyptian Actors Syndicate.
Advertisement
Participants in the funeral included Ashraf Zaki, the head of the Egyptian Actors’ Syndicate; Egyptian actors Jamil Rateb, Hussain Fahmi, Samir Sabri, and Farouk Al Feshawi as well as Sharif’s close friend Zahi Hawwas, a ex- archaeology minister.
Finally, in 1954, he starred opposite “the lady of the Arab screen”, Faten Hamama, who one year later became his wife. “They are historic and everyone loved them”, said Bassiuny referring to Sharif and Hamama, whose funeral he had also attended. He wrote many books and newspaper columns about bridge and licensed his name to a computer game called “Omar Sharif Bridge”.
His grandson, Omar Sharif Jr, posted a picture of himself and the actor on Facebook on 3 July with the message: “I love you”.
The couple, who have a son, Tareq, divorced in 1974 when Sharif, already famous in his homeland, launched a career in Hollywood. He was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor for this role.
He worked in over 20 films before being approached for the role of Sharif Ali in “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) which was his first Hollywood movie.
Sharif was known for his debonair style, raffish good looks and often mischievous joie de vivre, but he will be remembered forever as the eponymous Doctor Zhivago.
Tributes to Sharif were quick to flow on social media.
“He was handsome, sophisticated and charming”.
Confirming his flexibility, Sharif next played a Nazi officer in “The Night of the Generals”, a Jewish gambler in “Funny Girl” opposite Barbra Streisand and an Austrian prince in “Mayerling”.
His roles in foreign film are numerous and he won three Golden Globes.
Sharif played the hero in the epic adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel of tortured passions during the Russian Revolution, with son Tarek playing his younger self.
Reportedly fluent in English, French and Greek, Sharif became known for his passion for bridge and thoroughbred race horses.
He said: “I stopped making movies because, for the last 25 years, I’ve been making a lot of rubbish because I was in debt all the time”.
Sharif had a triple heart bypass in 1992 and suffered a mild heart attack in 1994, according to the IMDb movie database website.
Advertisement
The role won him the Cesar, the French equivalent of the Oscar, and it was followed by Hidalgo, in which he played a desert sheikh who duels 11 assailants with a sword.
