Sarhan was born in
El Sharqiya,
Egypt on 13 March 1925. He graduated from the "High Institute of Acting in Egypt" in 1947. In 1949, Sarhan acted in his first movie,
Lahalibo (لهاليبو, "Lahaleebo"). His rise to stardom was in 1951 when
Youssef Chahine, a famous Egyptian
film director, chose him for the lead role in the movie
Son of the Nile (ابن النيل, "
Ibn El-Nil"). In 1957, he starred in
Ezz El-Dine Zulficar's Return My Heart (رد قلبي, "
Rodda Qalbi"). His notable films included
Mahmoud Zulfikar's The Unknown Woman (المرأة المجهولة , "''Al-Mar'a Al-Maghoola''")
Kamal El Sheikh's Chased by the Dogs (اللص والكلاب, "
Al-Less wal Kelab") among many others. Sarhan had earned the title "The young man of the screen". He received several awards throughout his career. President
Gamal Abdel Nasser honored Sarhan with the
Order of the Republic. In 1984, he received a Best Actor's award for his lead role, with
Faten Hamama, in the movie ''
Lelt El qabd 'Ala Fatema'' (ليلة القبض على فاطمة, "The Night of Fatima's Arrest"), which was directed by
Henry Barakat. During the celebrations of the centennial of cinema he was nominated by Egyptian critics as the best actor of the century in Egypt, having participated more than any other actor in The Greatest 100 Egyptian films. Sahran's last movie was
El-Gablawi (الجبلاوي) in 1991. He died on 19 March 1997, aged 72, in
Cairo. == References ==