Actor Omar Sharif, known for his role as Doctor Zhivago in the Oscar-winning film, has died. He was 83 and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. On July 10, 2015, at the age of 83, Sharif died after a heart attack at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt. Omar Sharif was born Michel Demitri Chalhoub April 10, 1932 Alexandria, Egypt. His wife was the Egyptian actress Faten Hamama (1954–1974) and they had one son Tarek El-Sharif . The assumed surname Sharif means "noble" in Arabic. He came from a Melkite Greek Catholic family of Palestinian-Syro-Lebanese descent. His father, Joseph Chalhoub, who was born in Lebanon, was a merchant of wood who settled in Egypt where Omar was born and raised. His mother, Claire Saada, was of Syrian and Lebanese ancestry. Sharif graduated from the University of Cairo with a degree in mathematics and physics.In 1955, Sharif converted to Islam to marry Egyptian actress Faten Hamama.He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.He won international fame and an Oscar-nomination for best supporting actor for his role in the 1962 film "Lawrence of Arabia" with Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn. His first movie was an Egyptian movie, "The Blazing Sun," in 1954 opposite the Middle East's biggest female star, Faten Hamama.
Raised as a Roman Catholic, Sharif converted to Islam and married Hamama in 1955. They had a son, Tarek, who played Yuri in "Doctor Zhivago" at age 8, but the couple divorced in 1974(pictured below).He did not remarry. He played many roles including a Spanish priest in "Behold a Pale Horse," and "Genghis Khan" in 1965. In 2005 he starred as St. Peter in an Italian TV movie on the Saint. (Images shared from Google Images)
Please PRAY for the repose of his soul and his family.
Please PRAY for the repose of his soul and his family.
Then came the title role in "Doctor Zhivago," the story of a physician and poet caught up in the Russian revolution. Despite criticism, the film and Sharif were a hit. For his 2003 role as an elderly Muslim shopkeeper in the French film "Monsieur Ibrahim," he won the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival.
Reportedly fluent in Arabic, English, Greek and French, Sharif wrote many books about the card game bridge and licensed his name to a computer game called "Omar Sharif Bridge."
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