It is with great sadness that we report that Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, best known for his Oscar-nominated turn as Sherif Ali in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia, has passed away at the age of 83 after suffering a heart attack in a hospital in Cairo. His agent Steve Kenis also confirmed that the star had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Born Michel Demitri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932, Sharif began his acting career in 1953 and appeared in well over 100 films and TV movies over the next six decades, including a lead role opposite Julie Christie in director David Lean’s Russian WWI epic Doctor Zhivago. He also co-starred with Barbara Streisand in the hit 1968 musical Funny Girl and its 1975 sequel Funny Lady, and played Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara in 1969’s Che!
In 1984, he showed his comedic chops for the zany cult classic comedy Top Secret!, but deeply regretted his participation in the 1999 adventure film The 13th Warrior, one of the most notorious box office bombs of recent years. Sharif took on roles in other big budget productions in his later years, including the Viggo Mortensen vehicle Hidalgo and as the narrator of Roland Emmerich’s prehistoric epic 10,000 BC.
Sharif was also a celebrated contract bridge player, one of the world’s best, and even licensed his name to a bridge computer game, Omar Sharif on Bridge. The star was married to Egyptian actress Faten Hamama from 1954 to 1974 and never remarried. Hamama, who passed away earlier this year, had one child with Sharif, son Tarek El-Sharif.
