Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor whose performances in David Lean’s epics Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago made him an international screen icon, died Friday in Cairo after suffering a heart attack. He was 83.
Born Michel Demetri Chalhoub in Alexandria in 1932, Sharif appeared in numerous Egyptian films of the 1950s. His first English-language role was in 1962 as tribal leader Sharif Ali in David Lean’s Best Picture winning-Lawrence of Arabia. Sharif was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance, which contains one of the most iconic entrance scenes in movie history: Sharif, only faintly visible against the backdrop of the desert, rides toward the camera until he looms large in the frame.
Sharif worked with Lean again in 1965 in the epic drama Dr. Zhivago, but subsequent roles found him in lighter fare: opposite Barbara Streisand in the romantic musical Funny Girl (1968); in Blake Edwards’ Inspector Clouseau comedy The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976); and in the Zucker Brothers’ absurd spy spoof Top Secret! (1984). In 2003, Sharif won a Best Actor Caesar (the French equivalent of an Oscar) for his role in the drama Monsieur Ibrahim, about an aging Muslim shopkeeper who befriends a Jewish child in 1960s Paris. In addition to his work on the screen, Sharif was a competitive bridge player. He is survived by a son and two grandchildren.
