Omar Sharif honoured at Egyptian Academy

Egyptian Cultural Minister Abdelwahed Alnabawy, Egyptian Ambassador Amr Helmy and Academy Director Gihane Zaki cut ribbon to open exhibit to Omar Sharif. Photo Credit: Egyptian Academy, Rome

 ROME -- “Omar Sharif. The Eternal Traveller” was the name of the special evening held at the exquisite Villa Borghese, which commemorated the life of the great actor Omar Sharif, who was most famous for his roles as the eponymous character in Dr. Zhivago, and in Lawrence of Arabia. Organised by the Egyptian Academy of Rome, with director of the institute Gihane Zaki, Egyptian Minister of Culture Abdelwahed Alnabawy and Egpytian ambassador in Italy Amr Helmy having attended, the event celebrated the achievements of Sharif, who died on July 10 this year aged 83 of a heart attack in Cairo whilst fighting Alzheimer’s.

 For the occasion, 135 photos from the Egyptian archives were showcased, featuring black and white posters, film sets and intimate moments of the multi-faceted man who lived life as an actor, a professional bridge player and lothario. A screen also projected a series of interviews by Sharif, and testimonies of the actor himself from his former colleagues and loved ones.

 The actor, born as Michel Dimitri Shalhoub, son of Lebanese parents, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where he graduated from the English school Victoria College and received a Physics and Mathematics degree from the University of Cairo. Sharif discovered his calling as an actor by sheer chance in 1953, when young director Youssef Chahine asked him to star in The Blazing Sun.

 From then on, the prolific actor starred in more than one hundred films, and won a Golden Globe for his exceptional portrayal as the troubled Russian Doctor Zhivago in 1965. His private life was also just as interesting as that of the characters he played, famously writing in his autobiography that he had overcome a gambling addiction, and had marryied his co-star in his first ever film. All over the world Omar Sharif was renowned for his suave, reserved demeanour and his trademark smile.

 The exhibition comes in the run up to the Italian culture week in Egypt which will be held simultaneously with the Egyptian culture week in Italy in autumn, a valuable opportunity to promote the two cultures in the respective countries. The photography exhibition will be open to the public until June 2016, and the Egyptian Academy’s next season will be dedicated to the international star. Other exhibitions organised for the season will be on the building of the Suez Canal and artefacts from Antiquity.

Omar Sharif