Omar Sharif's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Bracken's World Omar Sharif

Main Movie Roles 2008 - 10,000 BC 2006 - One Night with the King 2004 - Hidalgo 2003 - Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran 2001 - The Parole Officer 1999 - The 13th Warrior 1998 - Mysteries of Egypt 1990 - The Rainbow Thief 1990 - Mountains of the Moon 1984 - Top Secret! 1980 - Oh Heavenly Dog 1979 - Bloodline 1976 - The Pink Panther Strikes Again 1975 - Funny Lady 1974 - Juggernaut 1971 - The Last Valley 1971 - Le casse 1969 - Mackenna's Gold 1968 - Funny Girl 1967 - The Night of the Generals 1965 - Genghis Khan 1965 - Doctor Zhivago 1964 - The Yellow Rolls-Royce 1964 - The Fall of the Roman Empire 1962 - Lawrence of Arabia

BIOGRAPHY:

Omar Sharif, the Franco-Arabic actor best known for playing Sharif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and the title role in Doctor Zhivago (1965), was born Michel Demitri Shalhoub on April 10, 1932 in Alexandria, Egypt to Joseph Shalhoub, a lumber merchant, and his wife, Claire. Of Lebanese and Syrian extraction, the young Michel was raised a Roman Catholic. He was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria and too a degree in mathematics and physics from Cairo University with a major. Afterward graduating from university, he entered the family lumber business.

Before making his English-language film debut with "Lawrence of Arabia", for which he earned him a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination and international fame, Sharif became a star in Egyptian cinema. His first movie was the Egyptian film Siraa Fil-Wadi (1954) ("The Blazing Sun") in 1953, opposite the renowned Egyptian actress 'Faten Hamamain'whom he married in 1955. He converted to Islam to marry Hamamain and took the name Omar al-Sharif. The couple had one child (Tarek Sharif, who was born in 1957 and portrayed the young Zhivago in the eponymous picture) and divorced in 1974. Sharif never remarried.

Beginning in the 1960s, Sharif earned a reputation as one of the world's best known contract bridge players. In the 1970s and '80s, he co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune. Sharif also wrote several books on bridge and has licensed his name to a bridge computer game, "Omar Sharif Bridge", which has been marketed since 1992.

Sharif told the press in 2006 that he no longer played bridge, explaining, "I decided I didn't want to be a slave to any passion any more except for my work. I had too many passions, bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind of life, be with my family more because I didn't give them enough time."

As an actor, Sharif had made a comeback in 2003 playing the title role of an elderly Muslim shopkeeper in the French film Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003). For his performance, he won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actor César, France's equivalent of the Oscar, from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.


TRIVIA:

• Underwent triple bypass surgery in 1992, and suffered a mild heart attack in 1994. Until his bypass, Sharif smoked 100 cigarettes a day; after the operation he quit easily.
• Father of 'Tarek Sharif' (qv).
• Also fluent in Italian (ex. appearance in main RAI show ''Domenica In'' 10/23/2005)
• Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1990.
• He is both author and co-author of several books on Bridge and has licensed his name to a Bridge computer game.
• Ordered by a US court in Beverly Hills, California to take an anger management course for punching a parking attendant who refused to accept his European currency on 11 June 2005. Sharif was not present for the hearing. (13 February 2007).
• Of Lebanese/Syrian descent, but lived in Egypt all his life
• Writes a weekly syndicated column on Bridge.