Sharif was born
Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ( ) in
Alexandria,
Kingdom of Egypt (now
Republic of Egypt), to a
Melkite Greek Catholic family. Although most sources claim he was of
Syrian and
Lebanese descent, making him and his family members of the
Antiochian Greek Christian minority (also known as
Rūm). He adopted the surname Sharif, meaning "
noble" or "nobleman" in
Arabic, after he was picked by Egyptian director
Youssef Chahine to star in his film
The Blazing Sun. He later converted to
Islam and changed his name legally in order to marry
Faten Hamama. His father, Yusef Chalhoub, a precious woods merchant, moved to the port city of Alexandria with his mother in the early 20th century from
Zahlé. His family moved to
Cairo when he was four. His mother, Claire Saada, was a noted society hostess, in whose house Egypt's
King Farouk was a regular visitor prior to his deposition in 1952. In his youth, Sharif studied at
Victoria College, Alexandria, where he showed a talent for languages, He befriended fellow actor
Ahmed Ramzy and
Youssef Chahine in school. He later graduated from
Cairo University with a degree in mathematics and physics. He worked for a while in his father's precious wood business before beginning his acting career in Egypt. In 1955, he adopted the stage name "Omar Sharif". He married fellow Egyptian actress
Faten Hamama. It has been widely reported that Sharif studied acting at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, ==Acting career==
Egyptian film star Sharif began his acting career in Egypt with a role in
The Blazing Sun (1954). He was also in
The Devil of the Desert (1954). Sharif quickly rose to stardom, appearing in
Our Beautiful Days (1955),
The Lebanese Mission (1956) (a French film),
Struggle in the Pier (1956),
Sleepless (1957),
Land of Peace (1957), and
Goha (1958) (a
Tunisian film that marked the debut of
Claudia Cardinale). '' (1961) He also starred in
Sayyidat al-Qasr (1958),
A Beginning and an End (1960),
A Rumor of Love (1960), and the
Anna Karenina adaptation
The River of Love by
Ezz El-Dine Zulficar (1960). He and his wife, Faten Hamama, co-starred in several films as romantic leads. Sharif achieved success through other movies like
Struggle on the Nile (1959),
A Rumor of Love (1960), and
There is a Man in our House (1961), which made him a huge competitor to
Salah Zulfikar,
Shoukry Sarhan and
Rushdy Abaza, the
Egyptian cinema giants at the time.
Lawrence of Arabia Sharif's first English-language role was that of the fictitious Sherif Ali in
David Lean's historical epic
Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. Sharif was given the role when
Dilip Kumar turned it down,
Horst Buchholz proved unavailable and
Maurice Ronet could not use the contact lenses necessary to mask his eye colour. Casting Sharif in what is now considered one of the "most demanding supporting roles in Hollywood history" was both complex and risky as he was virtually unknown at the time outside Egypt. However, as historian Steven Charles Caton notes, Lean insisted on using ethnic actors when possible to make the film authentic. Sharif would later use his ambiguous ethnicity in other films: "I spoke French, Greek, Italian, Spanish and even Arabic", he said. As Sharif noted, his accent enabled him to "play the role of a foreigner without anyone knowing exactly where I came from", which he stated proved highly successful throughout his career. Sharif went on to star in another Hollywood film,
Anthony Mann's
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) where he played the support role of
Sohaemus of Armenia. Sharif was third-billed in Columbia's
Behold a Pale Horse (1964), playing a priest in the
Spanish Civil War alongside
Gregory Peck and
Anthony Quinn. Director
Fred Zinnemann said he chose Sharif partly on the suggestion of David Lean. "He said he was an absolutely marvellous actor, 'If you possibly can, take a look at him. Film historian
Richard Schickel wrote that Sharif gave a "truly wonderful performance", especially noteworthy because of his totally different role in
Lawrence of Arabia: "It is hard to believe that the priest and the sheik are played by the same man". The film, like
Fall of the Roman Empire, was a commercial disappointment. Sharif was one of many stars in MGM's
The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), playing a Yugoslav wartime patriot; the movie was a hit. He had his first lead role in a Hollywood film when he was cast in the title part of
Genghis Khan (1965). Produced by
Irving Allen and directed by
Henry Levin for Columbia, the $4.5 million epic was a box office disappointment. He had a supporting role in a French
Marco Polo biopic,
Marco the Magnificent (1965), starring Buchholz and Quinn.
Doctor Zhivago While making
Genghis Khan, Sharif heard that Lean was making
Doctor Zhivago (1965), an adaptation of
Boris Pasternak's
1957 novel. Sharif was a fan of the novel and lobbied for one of the supporting roles, but Lean decided instead to cast him in the lead as Yuri Zhivago, a poet and physician. Film historian Constantine Santas explained that Lean intended the film to be a poetic portrayal of the period, with large vistas of landscapes combined with a powerful score by
Maurice Jarre. He noted that Sharif's role is "passive", his eyes reflecting "reality" which then become "the mirror of reality we ourselves see". in
Doctor Zhivago (1965).|160px While filming the
Siberian sections of the film in
Joensuu, Finland, Sharif was said to have admired the snowy landscapes and been a guest at a local
bridge club, and the locals who liked him nicknamed him "Safiiri" (). In a commentary on the DVD (2001 edition), Sharif described Lean's style of directing as similar to a general commanding an army.
Doctor Zhivago remains one of the top ten
highest-grossing films of all time after adjusting for inflation. Sharif followed it with a cameo in
The Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966). He was reunited with
Lawrence co-star
Peter O'Toole and producer
Sam Spiegel for
The Night of the Generals (1967). His fourth movie for Columbia, Sharif played a German officer in World War II. The film was not a success, nor was the Italian-French fairytale
More Than a Miracle (1967), despite featuring
Sophia Loren as co-star.
Funny Girl Sharif was also praised for his portrayal of
Nicky Arnstein in
Funny Girl (1968) for
Columbia Pictures. He portrayed the husband of
Fanny Brice, played by
Barbra Streisand in her first film role. His decision to work alongside Streisand angered Egypt's government because she was a vocal supporter of the State of Israel, and the country condemned the film. It was also "immediately banned" in numerous Arab nations. Streisand herself jokingly responded, "You think Cairo was upset? You should've seen the letter I got from my Aunt Rose!" Sharif and Streisand became romantically involved during the filming.
Other films The Mamelukes (1965), an Egyptian epic film with
Nabila Ebeid and
Emad Hamdy, had a high publicity, was not a hit in Egyptian box office despite being his first in
Egyptian cinema since the 1961 film
There is a Man in Our House. Sharif co-starred with
Catherine Deneuve in
Mayerling (1968), and the following year was reunited with Gregory Peck in the western, ''
Mackenna's Gold (1969), an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the success of The Guns of Navarone'' (1961). in
The Mamelukes (1965) At
20th Century Fox he played
Che Guevara in
Che! which flopped at the box office.
The Appointment (1969) teamed Sharif with
Anouk Aimée and director
Sidney Lumet, had strong international success.
James Clavell's
The Last Valley (1971) was a huge flop, despite co-starring
Michael Caine.
The Horsemen (1971), directed by
John Frankenheimer and the last film under his Columbia contract, also performed poorly at the box office. Sharif later said, "What killed my career was appearing in a succession of films you wouldn't turn down. They were by good directors, but they were bad films." He specifically referenced
Behold a Pale Horse,
The Appointment and
The Horsemen. Sharif played
Captain Nemo for European TV in an adaptation of
Mysterious Island (1973). He appeared in a romantic thriller alongside
Julie Andrews for
Blake Edwards,
The Tamarind Seed (1974); it did well at the box office and the critics gave good reviews. He then supported
Richard Harris and
David Hemmings in a thriller,
Juggernaut (1974). Sharif reprised the role of Nick Arnstein in the sequel to
Funny Girl,
Funny Lady, in 1975. He starred in a West German thriller
Crime and Passion (1976) and had a cameo in Edwards'
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976). Sharif had a small role in
Ashanti (1979) and a bigger one in
Bloodline (1979), starring
Audrey Hepburn. "I lost money on gambling, buying horses, things like that", he later said. "So I made those movies which I knew were rubbish... I'd call my agent and tell him to accept any part, just to bail myself out." Sharif worked steadily in television, appearing in
Pleasure Palace (1981),
Ayoub (1983),
Peter the Great (1986), and
Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986) (as
Nicholas II of Russia). He had supporting parts in
Grand Larceny (1987) and
The Possessed (1988). His first notable credit in a while was
Mountains of the Moon (1990) but Sharif's part was only small. He was the subject of
This Is Your Life in 1989, when he was surprised by
Michael Aspel outside his Paris apartment. In
Egyptian cinema, he starred in
The Puppeteer (1989) alongside
Mervat Amin, where he played a role of a puppeteer living in rural Egypt.
1990s Sharif was reunited with O'Toole again in
The Rainbow Thief (1990). He went to Egypt for
War in the Land of Egypt (1991) and France for
Mayrig (1991) with
Claudia Cardinale, an autobiographical tale for
Henri Verneuil. The latter was popular enough for a sequel,
588 rue paradis (1992). Sharif could also be seen in
Memories of Midnight (1991),
Beyond Justice (1992),
Catherine the Great (as
Alexei Razumovsky), ''
Gulliver's Travels (1996), Heaven Before I Die (1997), and Mysteries of Egypt'' (1998). In 1996, Sharif starred in the documentary
Lebanon...Imprisoned Splendour. The documentary was written and directed by Lebanese-Australian director
Daizy Gedeon, who approached Sharif for the project because she wanted someone 'remarkable' to help her tell the true story of Lebanon: a country which, at the time, was still shrouded in the fog of its
Civil War. In the film, Sharif shares personal stories of his upbringing, and recites the poetry of famous Lebanese poet
Khalil Gibran. He had his first decent role in a big Hollywood film in a long time with
The 13th Warrior (1999). The outcome of the film's production disappointed Sharif so much that he temporarily retired from film acting, not taking a role in another major film until 2003's
Monsieur Ibrahim: :I said to myself, 'Let us stop this nonsense, these meal tickets that we do because it pays well.' I thought, 'Unless I find a stupendous film that I love and that makes me want to leave home to do, I will stop.' Bad pictures are very humiliating, I was really sick. It is terrifying to have to do the dialogue from bad scripts, to face a director who does not know what he is doing, in a film so bad that it is not even worth exploring."
Monsieur Ibrahim and later films Sharif did have a small role in
The Parole Officer (2001). In 2003 he said, "I went 25 years without making a good film." at the
Venice Film Festival (2003) In 2003, Sharif received acclaim for his leading role in
Monsieur Ibrahim, a French-language film adaptation of the novel
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran, as a Muslim Turkish merchant who becomes a father figure for a
Jewish boy. Sharif said of the film: It has nice big chunks of dialogue, which is what I like to do, rather than riding horses or camels. I'd turned down everything and stopped working for four years. I said, 'I'm going to stop doing that rubbish and keep some dignity.' But when I read the script for 'Monsieur Ibrahim,' I phoned the producers immediately. I said, 'Hang on, I'm coming, wait for me.' My problem is finding parts. When you're young and successful, they write or adapt parts for you. But when you're an old chap, let's be frank, you don't sell tickets anymore. If they need an old Englishman, American or Italian, there are plenty of actors around. So what's open for me? Old Arabs. And that's what I play in this film. Sharif's final role was as lead actor in the short
science education film
1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham, which was directed by
Ahmed Salim and was released as part of the
United Nations'
International Year of Light campaign, operated by
UNESCO. ==Contract bridge career==