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Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif (April 10, 1932), also known as Omar al-Sharif
or Omar Ash-Sharif, is an Egyptian-born actor (of Lebanese and Syrian
origin) who has starred in many Hollywood films. He has acted in Arabic,
French, and English feature films. Sharif is famous for his starring
role in the 1965 film Dr. Zhivago.
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Biography
Omar Sharif was born Michel Demitri Shalhoub on
April 10,
1932 in
Alexandria,
Egypt to Joseph Shalhoub, a timber merchant, and his wife, Claire
Shalhoub. Omar Sharif graduated from
Alexandria's
Victoria College, then from
Cairo University with a mathematics and physics major. Afterwards,
he worked with his father in the lumber business. Their business was
less than successful following the investment of a large amount of
capital in an endeavor to revitalize
papyrus as a viable commodity.
In
1953, he began his acting career with a role in the Egyptian film,
Siraa Fil-Wadi, (English, The Blazing Sun or Struggle in the Valley or
Fight in the Valley). Numerous Egyptian productions followed. His first
English language film was
Lawrence of Arabia in
1962, in which he played the Sherif Ali. This performance earned him
a
Best Supporting Actor
Oscar nomination and worldwide fame. He also played the title role
in the 1965 film,
Dr. Zhivago by
David Lean. After a period in which he made
headlines more for being a professional
bridge player than an actor, he made a comeback with the film
adaptation of the novel
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran.
Raised a
Catholic, he converted to
Islam to marry renowned Egyptian actress
Faten Hamama in
1955 and took the name Omar al-Sharif. The marriage lasted almost 20
years and ended in
1974, producing one child Tarek Sharif (b.
1957), who appeared in
Doctor Zhivago as Yuri at the age of 8. Rumors that Sharif would
have married actress Sohair Ramzi in
1977, have turned out to be untrue. In fact, he never remarried and
his attempt to restore his relationship with ex-wife Faten Hamama after
returning to Egypt failed.
Hamama and Sharif starred in several Egyptian movies together as
romantic leads, including Sharif's first significant role in Siraa
Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun, Struggle in the Valley, 1953). Others include
Ayyamna el helwa (Our Best Days, 1955), La anam (No Tomorrow, 1958),
Sayedat el kasr (Lady of the Castle, 1959) and the
Anna Karenina-adaptation Nahr el hub (The River of Love, 1961),
Omar Sharif is fluent in
English,
Arabic,
Greek, and
French. He also speaks some
Italian and
Turkish.
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Sharif and Gaming
Sharif, once among the world's best known
contract bridge players, co-wrote a
syndicated newspaper bridge column for the
Chicago Tribune
for several years. He is also both author and co-author of several books
on bridge and has licensed his name to a bridge
computer game; initially released in a DOS version in 1992, Omar
Sharif Bridge is still sold in Windows and "mobile platform" versions.
Sharif has also been a regular in
casinos in
France, where he once assaulted a casino employee after losing
thousands of dollars on a single
roulette bet.
In 2006 Sharif declared both pastimes as ended when he was asked if
he still played bridge: "I've stopped altogether. I decided I didn't
want to be a slave to any passion any more except for my work. I had too
many passions, bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind
of life, be with my family more because I didn't give them enough time.
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Trivia
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Height: 5'11"
(1.80 m)
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He was once
romantically linked to his
Funny Girl co-star,
Barbra Streisand.
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He underwent a
triple bypass surgery in
1992, and suffered a mild heart attack in
1994. Until his bypass, Sharif smoked 50 cigarettes a day; after
the surgery, he quit easily.
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On
August 5,
2003, he received a one-month suspended prison sentence for
striking a police officer in a suburban Parisian casino in July. He
was also fined $1700 and ordered to pay the officer $340 in damages.
(He had insulted and then head-butted the
Pontoise policeman, who tried to intervene in an argument
between the actor and a
roulette
croupier.)
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In November 2005,
he was honored with a medal by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
in recognition of his significant contributions to world film and
cultural diversity. The medal - which is handed out very
infrequently - is named after Russian director
Sergei Eisenstein and could only be given out a total of 25
times by
Russia's
Mosfilm.
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He has one Muslim
and one Jewish grandchild.
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Larry Thomas, who played "The
Soup Nazi" on
Seinfeld has said that his portrayal of the Soup Nazi was an
impersonation of Sharif's character in
Lawrence of Arabia
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