Legendary Egyptian actor Omar Sharif dies aged 83

Famed actor Omar Sharif has died at the age of 83 from a heart attack. He was best known for the films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. Earlier this year, the Egypt-born actor had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Sharif was born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria in 1932 and got his acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His first film was the 1954 Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (The Blazing Sun) and he soon became a big star.

Sharif's international fame came when he was cast in David Lean's 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia, opposite actor Peter O'Toole. The two soon became fast friends. He rejoined director David Lean to play the lead in Doctor Zhivago, a film about a physician who gets caught up in the Russian Revolution. He was also in a series of biopics, where he played historical figures such as Genghis Khan and Che Guevara.

Despite being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Sharif still knew that he was a famous international star. His death was announced by his grandson Omar Sharif Jr in a Facebook post.

Source: BBC

War Movie Month: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

"Mr Dryden: Lawrence, only two kinds of creature get fun in the desert: Bedouins and Gods, and you're neither. Take it from me, for ordinary men, it's a burning, fiery furnace.

Lawrence: No Dryden, it's going to be fun."

T.E. Lawrence was certainly no ordinary man. With Middle East interests from an early age, he later entered British Army Intelligence and served as the political liaison officer in a revolt against the Turks during WWI. He was the titular focus of today's war classic, the seven Academy Award winning Lawrence of Arabia, directed by David Lean (Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago).

Beginning in a similar fashion to Gandhi, T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) is killed in a motorcycle accident in 1935. At his funeral, a reporter is digging around to find out about his past. Cue wartime epic movie. During WWI, the British are allied with Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness), who is revolting against the Turks. The eccentric Lawrence is sent to investigate his chances of victory. He is advised by Colonel Brighton (Anthony Quayle) to simply observe, but when Faisal takes kindly to Lawrence, he assists the Prince in launching a surprise attack against the Turks. The rest of the film sees Lawrence push a guerrilla war against the Turks, with train explosions and huge clashes between Arabic forces; it's an incredibly interesting story, and is generally considered to be historically accurate, with much of the film being based on Lawrence's own book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Lawrence of Arabia is one of the many epics from an era of cinema that was defined by 'spectacle'. Shot in 65mm, principal photography took a year and a half to complete, with locations ranging from Morocco and Jordan, to Spain. The script wasn't even complete when filming began. The result though, is an extravagant look at the life of an extraordinary man. Although I do have one complaint. It is incredibly long. I enjoy a good epic as much as the next film nerd, but at its restored 3 hours and 48 minutes running time, Lawrence of Arabia has always been just too long for me to remain fully immersed.

Despite the many complaints over the years about the representation of Lawrence, Peter O'Toole provides a riveting and lively performance, with a large cast to support him, including Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn, both of whom play Arabs (Hollywood again choosing to increase the star status of a film, rather than using more suitable, foreign actors), Jack Hawkins & Claude Rains. One of the few foreign stars in Lawrence of Arabia was Egyptian actor, Omar Sharif, who played one of the more interesting characters, Sherif Ali. Sharif would go on to star in Lean's next motion picture, Doctor Zhivago.

Despite the typically racist casting from Hollywood and a (sometimes) tedious running time, Lawrence of Arabia is one of the classic war films from 60s Hollywood. It may not touch on the anti-war themes that started to leak into the genre later on, but it does provide an intriguing and thorough representation of one of history's most interesting figures.