Omar Sharif, 83, a Star in ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago,’ Dies
By ROBERT BERKVIST

Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor who rode out of the desert in the 1962 screen epic “Lawrence of Arabia” into a glamorous if brief reign as an international star in films like “Doctor Zhivago” and “The Night of the Generals,” died on Friday in Cairo. He was 83.

His death, at a hospital, was caused by a heart attack, said his agent, Steve Kenis.

Mr. Sharif — who later became as well known for his mastery of bridge as he was for his acting — was a commanding, darkly handsome presence onscreen. He was multilingual as well, and comfortable in almost any role or cultural setting.

He had appeared in a number of Egyptian films before the British director David Lean added him to the cast of “Lawrence of Arabia,” a freewheeling depiction of the real-life exploits of the British adventurer T. E. Lawrence, who led Arab fighters in a series of battles against Turkish occupiers. Peter O’Toole starred in the title role.

Mr. Sharif played the Arab warrior Sherif Ali, who joins forces with Lawrence. The scene depicting his arrival is widely regarded as a classic piece of cinematic art. In it he appears at first as a tiny speck on the desert horizon and then slowly approaches, until he materializes into a figure riding a camel. Mr. Sharif’s performance, in his first English-language film, brought him an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor.

The 1960s proved to be Mr. Sharif’s best, busiest and most visible decade in Hollywood. In quick succession he appeared in “The Fall of the Roman Empire” (1964), as a king of ancient Armenia; “Behold a Pale Horse” (1964), as a priest during the Spanish Civil War; “The Yellow Rolls-Royce” (1965), as a Yugoslav patriot intent on saving his country from the Nazis; “Genghis Khan” (1965), as the conquering Mongol leader; “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), as a Russian physician-poet whose world is torn apart by war; “The Night of the Generals” (1967), as a German intelligence officer; “Funny Girl” (1968), as a shifty gambler, and — in a rare early-career misstep — the critical and box-office disaster “Che!” (1969), as the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, opposite Jack Palance as Fidel Castro.

There were more films to come, but it was Mr. Sharif’s performance in “Doctor Zhivago” that is generally considered the high point of his career. Adapted from the novel by Boris Pasternak, the film was a sweeping portrait of war and rebellion in Czarist Russia. Mr. Sharif, in the role of the sensitive, brooding Zhivago, plunges into a doomed love affair with another man’s wife, played by Julie Christie, as violence engulfs their lives.

World War II was the setting for “The Night of the Generals,” a drama about the Nazi high command in Warsaw that reunited Mr. Sharif and Mr. O’Toole. Mr. Sharif played a junior officer assigned to investigate a trio of generals, one of whom (Mr. O’Toole) has been killing prostitutes.

It was a long way from strife-torn Europe to the world of show business in New York, but Mr. Sharif made the leap when he played a dashing card shark in the movie version of the Broadway musical “Funny Girl.” Barbra Streisand, in her screen debut, starred as the singer and comedian Fanny Brice; Mr. Sharif played Nicky Arnstein, the gambler she falls in love with.

The involvement, both on and off screen, of Mr. Sharif and Ms. Streisand, a Jewish actress and a visible supporter of Israel, got him in trouble with the Egyptian authorities. Still, Mr. Sharif appeared with Ms. Streisand in a sequel, “Funny Lady,” in 1975, although James Caan as the showman Billy Rose was the romantic lead this time.

Omar Sharif was born Michel Demitri Shalhoub on April 10, 1932, into a well-to-do family in Alexandria, Egypt. He graduated from Cairo University with a degree in mathematics and physics and worked for several years for the lumber company his father ran.

In the early 1950s he decided to capitalize on his good looks and ventured into film acting under the name Omar El-Sharif. He soon had a legion of fans, especially after co-starring with Faten Hamama, one of Egypt’s leading actresses. In 1955 he converted from Catholicism to Islam, and they were married soon after. They had a son, Tarek, who survives him, before separating in 1966 and divorcing in 1974. Ms. Hamama died in January. Further information on survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Sharif appeared in dozens of movies after the 1960s, but his film career was clearly headed downhill. He liked to gamble, became an aficionado of horse racing and spent more and more time playing competitive bridge. An expert on the game, he wrote a syndicated bridge column and a number of books on the subject, including “Omar Sharif’s Life in Bridge” (1983). His autobiography, “The Eternal Male,” written with Marie-Thérèse Guinchard, was published in 1977.

He was philosophical about the ups and downs of his career. “Look, I had it good and bad,” he said in an interview with The New York Times in 1995. “I did three films that are classics, which is very rare in itself, and they were all made within five years.”

He attributed his change of film fortune to what he called “the cultural revolution” at the end of the 1960s. “There was a rise of young, talented directors,” he added, “but they were making films about their own societies. There was no more room for a foreigner, so suddenly there were no more parts.”

There were in fact at least a few parts. Mr. Sharif continued to appear in films, many made for television. In “Pleasure Palace,” shown on CBS in 1980, he was a European playboy who comes to Las Vegas for a no-holds-barred gambling duel with a millionaire Texan. In the 1995 A&E film “Catherine the Great,” starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, he was a Russian prince.

His later films included “Monsieur Ibrahim” (2003), set in 1960s Paris, in which he played an aging Muslim grocer who befriends a rudderless Jewish teenager; and “Hidalgo” (2004), as an Arab sheik who invites an American cowboy (Viggo Mortensen) to participate in a survival race across the desert. His most recent film role was in the French family drama “Rock the Casbah” (2013).

In his later years, Mr. Sharif chose his parts carefully. “I decided,” he told The Times in 2003, “that I wanted to keep some dignity in my old age.”

He also insisted that age was no bar to remaining vital.

“My philosophy of life is that I’m living every moment intensely, as if it were the last moment,” he said. “I don’t think of what I did before or what I’m going to do. I think of what I’m doing right now.”

「齊瓦哥醫生」奧瑪雪瑞夫 83歲辭世

以主演諾貝爾文學獎小說改編電影「齊瓦哥醫生」一炮而紅的奧瑪雪瑞夫，因心臟病發在開羅的醫院逝世，享壽83歲。在埃及出生的奧瑪雖然在開羅的大學取得數學與物理的學位，還是回到家中接手木材生意，但5年後他就轉進倫敦的皇家戲劇學院研習，順理成章的走進演藝圈。剛開始都在自家埃及拍電影，還與女星哈瑪瑪結婚，成為該國著名的銀色夫妻。

1961年，英國大導演大衛連籌拍史詩巨片「阿拉伯的勞倫斯」，相中奧瑪扮演阿里酋長，不但令奧瑪獲得奧斯卡最佳男配角提名，亦在國際影壇打開知名度，開始接拍更多英語電影。大衛連數年後有意拍攝「齊瓦哥醫生」，奧瑪讀過原著十分喜歡，毛遂自薦演女主角的未婚夫，想不到因為彼得奧圖、保羅紐曼等人都無法接演男主角齊瓦哥，大衛連決定由奧瑪挑大樑，隨著電影上片後全球各地瘋狂大賣座，奧瑪變成巨星，日後又與芭芭拉史翠珊、凱薩琳丹妮芙等都合作。一直到2000年之後，奧瑪仍有影視作品推出，並以「陪我走到世界盡頭」榮登法國凱撒獎最佳男主角。

2015-06-02．經濟日報．A8．國際．編譯葉亭均

「齊瓦哥醫生」病逝 好萊塢表哀悼

曾演出「齊瓦哥醫生」和「阿拉伯的勞倫斯」等片的資深演員奧瑪雪瑞夫，本月10日下午因心臟病逝於埃及開羅的醫院，享年83歲。

曾和他演出「妙女郎」並傳出緋聞的芭芭拉史翠珊第一時間接受「時人」訪問時表示，她第一部電影的男主角就是奧瑪，她形容他「英俊、世故、有魅力」。即使當初「妙女郎」找他擔綱男主角，圈內曾出現雜音，但最後證明兩人在片中激盪出浪漫火花。

安東尼奧班德拉斯曾和奧瑪合作「終極奇兵」，他讚奧瑪「很會說故事、是忠誠的朋友，極具智慧。」資深演員羅傑摩爾也表示，奧瑪是優秀的演員，「我會永遠懷念他」。奧瑪雪瑞夫1932年出生於埃及的亞歷山卓，1950年代在家鄉出道。1962年，他在「阿拉伯的勞倫斯」飾演阿里酋長，打出知名度，除獲奧斯卡最佳男配角提名，也為他贏得一座金球獎。不過，真正讓他爆紅的則是1965年的「齊瓦哥醫生」，並因此再獲金球獎。

「每日郵報」報導，儘管奧瑪年輕時相當風光，但他夜夜笙歌，也改不掉愛賭博的個性。他一度放棄演戲、成為橋牌高手，還說寧可玩橋牌、也不拍爛片。奧瑪晚年景況不佳，經紀人今年初證實他患有阿茲海默症，在此之前他已纏綿病榻多年，並對年輕時期的荒唐行徑懊悔不已，曾有人請他回顧演藝生涯，對此奧瑪說：「演戲榮耀了我，但也為我帶來孤寂。」不過他不曾後悔走上這條路。

奧瑪也處處留情，每每和合作的女星墜入愛河。從「妙女郎」的芭芭拉史翠珊、「齊瓦哥醫生」的茱莉克莉絲蒂到「魂斷梅耶林」的凱薩琳丹妮芙等。但每段戀情都無法長久。後來他曾坦承，這都是因為他「害怕受傷」。他留情的對象也包括記者，曾有義大利女記者聲稱，奧瑪是她孩子的爹。奧瑪堅稱他和那名女記者是「玩玩」，也不認為孩子是他的。

2015-07-12．聯合報．C3．星火線．記者祁玲

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/movies/omar-sharif-a-star-in-dr-zhivago-dies-at-83.html