'Omar Sharif' . For his performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actor César, France's equivalent of the Oscar, from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. Omar Sharif died of a heart attack on July 10, 2015, in Cairo, Egypt.
Graduated from Cairo University with a degree in mathematics and physics .
Studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, England.
Was fluent in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian and Spanish.
Of Lebanese/Syrian descent, but resided in Egypt most of his life.
He wrote a weekly syndicated column on Bridge.
He was both author and co-author of several books on Bridge and has licensed his name to a Bridge computer game.
World-class Bridge player, he has been known to anticipate or postpone shootings in order to be able to attend major bridge events.
Underwent triple bypass surgery , and suffered a mild heart attack . Until his bypass, Sharif smoked 100 cigarettes a day; he quit easily after the operation.
Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1990.
Ordered by a US court in Beverly Hills, California to take an anger management course for punching a parking attendant who refused to accept his European currency on 11 June 2005. Sharif was not present for the hearing (13 February 2007).
As of 2009, he is only one of six performers who won a Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (his for Doctor Zhivago ). The others are Spencer Tracy in The Actress , Anthony Franciosa in Career , Shirley MacLaine in Madame Sousatzka , Jim Carrey in The Truman Show and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road .
His autobiography LEtenel Masculin" was published in France in 1976 and in America the following year as "The Eternal Male".
Named to star in a musical biography on Rudolph Valentino that director Mike Frankovich was preparing.
Father of Tarek Sharif and grandfather of Omar Sharif Jr..
(August 2003) Received one-month suspended prison sentence for striking a police officer in a suburban-Paris casino in July 2003. Was also fined $1,700 and ordered to pay the officer $340 in damages, for insulting and then head-butting the Pontoise policeman, who tried to intervene in an argument between the actor and a roulette croupier.
He said in an Egyptian interview in the early 1990s that he expected that his grandson Omar Sharif Jr. would become a great actor.
He wanted to study in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but, before he was supposed to travel to London, a producer saw him and offered him the leading role in his first acting role Siraa Fil-Wadi.
He was close friends with Egyptian actors Ahmed Ramzy and Fouad El-Mohandes and famous director Youssef Chahine.
He performed some shows in the British theaters.
He said that he spent most of his time between 1960-1990 away of Egypt living in hotels to film movies in America and Europe.
He was a student at Victoria College School in Egypt.
His parents and sister used to reside in Spain.
He said in an interview to the Egyptian Television that his former wife Faten Hamama is his only true love.
He was good friends with the French singer Dalida.
Was close friends with Peter OToole , who nicknamed him Freddy on the set of Lawrence of Arabia , because no one could possibly be called Omar Sharif.
Born the same day as Delphine Seyrig.
When Omar Sharif signed on with Sam Spiegel to do Lawrence of Arabia , it was a seven picture deal at $15,000 per film, which the producer convinced him was the standard rate at the time. The others were Doctor Zhivago , Behold a Pale Horse , The Night of the Generals , Genghis Khan , Mackennas Gold and Funny Girl .
Was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease.
Served in Egypts militia during the 1956 Suez crisis but considered the idea of actually using his rifle absurd as the enemy would simply level the apartment block he lived in with their return fire. Was later interviewed by British chat show host Michael Parkinson who had served with the British Army on the other side of the conflict, the pair comparing their memories of the events.
Around 2007-2009, he said in an interview in Egypt that Che! was one of his worst movies. He said he didnt know back then that it was produced by the CIA, and that it would offend the reputation of a famous socialist and revolutionary figure like Che.
Bollywood movie star Dilip Kumar was initially offered the role of Sherif Ali. He declined the role after which David Lean offered it to Omar Sharif which subsequently catapulted him onto the world scene. Sharif was supposed to play the role of Tafas who is shot by Sherif Ali in his introductory desert sequence.
His Egyptian citizenship was almost withdrawn by the Nasser regime because of his public affair with Jewish actress Barbra Streisand , who was strongly supporting Israel in its Six Day War against Egypt.
The first time he went to America was for the film premiere of Lawrence of Arabia. The night before the opening Peter OToole took him to see Lenny Bruce in a show after which they went back stage to see Lenny then all went out for drinks. After a while Lenny said he had to go home for a few minutes so they accompanied him. As Lenny was giving himself a drug injection the police broke in and arrested them all. At the police station Omar asked to make a phone call and rang producer Sam Spiegel who eventually got them released.
Had appeared with James Mason in four films: The Fall of the Roman Empire , Genghis Khan , Mayerling and Bloodline .
Had appeared with Anthony Quayle four films: Lawrence of Arabia , The Fall of the Roman Empire , Mackennas Gold and The Tamarind Seed .
I definitely want to do more theatre now. Or, two weeks in a film for a,remarkable amount of money.
It made me the hero of the whole of France. To head-butt a cop is the,dream of every Frenchman.
Aggressive feminists scare me.
I lived in America for a long time. Only ten per cent of all Americans,have a passport. In other words, ninety per cent never left America.
I had a couple of adventures with women, but not the great love. I had a,great love once with my wife (Faten Hamama) that has to be said.
Since 1966, I have never lived with a woman, I have only lived in hotels,and eaten in restaurants. Mine was a very happy life, I am not,complaining.
[on his prowess as a lover] See these hands? They are old. But they are,soft. Only good for caressing.
The reason it has relevance is because I, as a popular Arab personality - the Arab people like me and respect me - thought it was time for me to make an ever so tiny statement about what I thought about this whole thing. .
