It’s this dashing gentleman right here… Omar Sharif. Born in Egypt, Sharif was 100% Arab. He was initially a Christian, but converted to Islam early in life in order to marry his first wife, a fellow Egyptian actress who was herself Muslim.
The charming Egyptian didn’t always have an easy time in Hollywood… as in the 1960s, he was often torn between loyalties and accused of all sorts of sympathies he may not have harbored to begin with. There was some controversy on both sides of the aisle. Such as when he starred in Funny Girl opposite Barbra Streisand as Sharif’s rise to fame came at a time when Hollywood was rather distrustful of Arabs and all things Arabic.
Streisand was Jewish, Sharif was Muslim and Arab… and all of this taking place amidst several wars between Israel and Egypt in the 1960s. Sharif got shit from everyone, as did Streisand. Nevertheless, he perservered; Omar Sharif didn’t want to be bound by faith, controlled by his ethnicity, he was a limitless man, a man of the world, and he was as free in his acting life as he was in his love life and personal life.
Here’s Mr. Sharif with his eldest grandson — born to his son and a Jewish lady. He really was a man of the world in so many ways, and it was nice to see. And though he played parts in many iconic movies such as Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, Sharif never won an Oscar and never quite got the recognition he was due…
…and he didn’t mind, because his first love wasn’t acting; it was cards. He was a virtuoso of contract bridge and considered one of the world’s finest players. He spoke fluent Arabic, French, English, Greek, Italian and Spanish. This fascinating man left the world in 2015, aged 83.
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