An actor, womanizer and lover of life | Omar Sharif | True Story Documentary Channel

[Music] when passed away I had all his belongings in two [Music] suitcases if you ask most Americans or or Europeans to name an Egyptian they could probably name Cleopatra or Omar Shar I'm not unhappy about them maintaining this myth of the Mediterranean Bon Seducer kind of thing I'd rather have that than poor Omar sharei stuck in a hotel room I'd rather have the glamour myth they have been able to sck any label they like on him in any way they like [Music] Marlon Brando said the real shame about 911 is that there'll never be another Omar Sharif and it's true I mean even now I'm working as an actor in Los Angeles and all the scripts that I get and all the parts that I get offered are either hijacker number four or Terrace number seven um and Arabs are represented so differently right now Omar Sharif represented the Arab world in a way that's barely conceivable today when images of conflict and cliches dominate The Western media perception of this region but did Omar Sharif really see himself as an ambassador of his homeland or was this role forced upon him was he really the great Seducer that the world saw in him who was this man who gave up his birth name lived in several countries around the world loved card games perhaps more than the cinema and spent most of his life in hotel rooms I deem him one of the greatest beings alive in our time we shall never see his like again his name will live in history it will live in the annals of War it will live in the Legends of Arabia who is he what is your name my name is for my [Music] friends I met Omar when he first came to Los Angeles uh and he was a lovely kind of wow whether he would have ever come to America had he not been nominated for an Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia who [Music] knows this man is coming out of Egypt he knows nothing about Hollywood [Music] he was probably shocked to be there his first trip to Hollywood was really because he was nominated for that role in Lawrence Arabia for two Golden Gloves that's quite the first trip to make somewhere you know to really be the toast of a town like Hollywood uh of course he ended up winning both of those [Music] [Music] Omar congratulations thank you very much I know you're very proud it's wonderful isn't it yes and I would say at this Golden Globe awards uh you're being the prime number one actor of Egypt is there another actor over there um well there are a few not very many but a few but they never go out I mean they never they have never been seen in inter National films how did you get started with films well well I got started in Egypt I I wanted to be an actor and I immediately got a very lucky break I've had lucky breaks all my life as a matter of fact I can't believe it's all luck but again thank you very much and congratulations thank you [Music] [Music] his father was a successful Uh Wood Merchant doing very well and so on he wanted his son his only son to join the business the Egyptian Kingdom had been independent since 1922 but it was under the strong influence of the former colonial power Great Britain in the 1930s Alexandria was a Melting Pot of many cultures for the British school par excellence in Egypt he went to boarding school [Music] there the who who of Egypt was there and uh I think he admired the British yeah it formed who he was foree fore [Music] [Music] this is not a normal stage of a normal school this is the stage of Victoria College where great actors directors and actresses as well came out of this place for Amar Sharif or for any other graduate of Victoria College you can you can use the theater freely if you have the talent you can present it in those days Cairo was considered the Hollywood on the Nile the Egyptian film industry dominated the Arab Market like many great acting careers that of Omar shareif began with a stroke of luck my mother started working in cinema when she was six or seven and she became the biggest star in she was a sort of shirely Temple of [Music] Egypt my grandmother was much more famous when they met she had probably made dozens of films um she was the leading lady of the Arabic screens Shaheen Yousef Shaheen he discovered Omar Sharif he gave him a great uh role with Mrs fat Hama at the time and their love story began and they uh got married when he showed up and said now I'm going to marry a Muslim I think it must have been an oops moment in the family this is [Music] perhaps and from then on they made they made multiple films together she absolutely elevated his career by being in films with him they were that iconic couple they were the bran jelina the they were Brad pen and Angelina Jolie um also divorced I [Music] guess [Music] for I traveled all the time I live in hotel rooms and I eat in restaurants because I live alone for now since 1966 I lived alone see that's a long time I was 34 then so I wasn't so old and I lived alone for all the rest of the my life from 1966 till now Hotel life is a good life if you're a bachelor because it was convenient and because anyway he was working and traveling 9 months a year so he had closer relationships with the staff at hotels with the concierge with the bartenders people that he knew for years knew the names of their children in a hotel you're never alone [Music] now a gathering of international Stars unfolds the story Alec Guinness as Prince RIS Anthony Quinn as AA Abu T and Peter otou as Lawrence David lean had difficulty casting the Sheri Hy role they were out the desert already and they're ready to [Music] shoot David lean attired a french actor to do Omar's role of Sherif Ali and apparently the first day of the shoots David's looking down the camera and he says Peter UL has blue eyes this French gentleman was who was paid out his contract whatever has green eyes I don't have a contrast I want a contrast send me pictures of English-speaking Arab actors it's out of the pictures he got five or six there was Omar's picture and Omar arrived and David at him said yeah okay let's grow a mustache [Music] Lawrence of Arabia won seven Academy Awards and turned 30-year-old om AR Sharif into an international [Music] star Omar pushed the boundaries hey bastard we murdered my brother and hundreds of other decent Cubans and Omar Sharif is [Applause] CH he was a token in Hollywood at a time of no diversity he played every other every other didn't have to be an Arab it could be a Russian it could be a Mongolian it could be a Cuban he just looked different so he could be another he could be exotic Omar Shar as major growl the perfect Hunter finding a killer became an obsession and even death could not deter him just what do you think you're doing my job n of the generals he sold you on the on the fact that he was in the German Army you know there was no doubt about that so he he could [Music] deliver now from the most widely acclaimed novel of Our Generation Metro Goldwin mayor presents David lean fil of Boris pastx Dr jaago Omar was incredulous initially that David was offering him shivago he's a Russian doctor I'm a Egyptian actor he says yeah he says you're an actor you are the one person who can do nothing best I don't want you to act I want you to be here and to be like the blotting paper everything's happening to you and your reaction must be minimal and this is true of they they have been able to sck any label they like call him a man of Peace forced into war a Man Who Loved deeply tenderly passionately shago a man in love with life this is Dr shivago winner of six Academy Awards [Music] coming from Cairo Egypt and to make it in in the world Etc you need to have tremendous drive and ambition you and I did we stopped seeing each other I mean I was working in Hollywood in England and other countries and she was in Egypt and it cost me my marriage it it cost me probably my all my private life was ruined by it he didn't feel I don't think that he was able to give her everything she needed or stay faithful while he was a big International Star traveling abroad and I think he did worry about that when he was uh just coming into his Prime in Hollywood uh and that's about the time they got divorced I really do think that he divorced her because he loved her that much he said always I did the perfect decision respecting her total [ __ ] if you believe that I've got land to sell to you in Florida give me a break he he went to look normal man 30 years old goes off to Hollywood for the first time God knows how many thousands of starlets and beautiful women approach him yeah he you know he's going to go for it and [Music] the tension in the Middle East over the Gulf of akaba blockade develops into fullscale war with reports of heavy fighting between Israeli and Egyptian forces along the Gaza Strip and the Sinai border hello gorgeous who is Columbia Pictures is proud to present Barbara stran yeah you're going to be a big star someday Miss uh uh Bryce fny Bryce i' RA in her Academy award-winning film debut you planning to make advances he was an odd choice to play that role at the end of the day Nicki arnstein is a Jew from Brooklyn and the role went to a Muslim actor during The Six Day [Music] War Israeli forces drive spearheads across the Sinai Peninsula West to the Suez Canal South to the entrance of the Gulf of akaba breaking the blockade capturing the West Bank of the Jordan River and occup in the old city of Jerusalem Barbara strand Omar shareif why don't we uh get married funny girl he was having an affair with her and a photo of them kissing on set made it back into the press in Egypt they accused him of conspiring with Israel and of being an Israel spy but Omar did say the best statement he said when I kiss a lady I never ask her about her religion or nationality Omar sharif's complex relationship with Egypt didn't begin with funny girl and the humiliation of the young Republic in the sixth day war after his Hollywood breakthrough Sharif didn't return to his home country for more than 10 Years Egypt under Gamal abdal NASA was under the influence of the Soviet Union entering and exiting the country became complicated and socialism had a deep impact on the lives of the wealthy Omar sharif's parents too were expropriated for [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] ET [Music] for he had a photographic memory for everything from cards to scripts to poetry he would always challenge himself and you know he'd finish the crossw word puzzles the most difficult ones within 10 or 15 minutes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] if [Music] Bridge part Bridge [Music] you can kind of see on the horizon that the business was changing you had more uh realistic uh kinds of actors becoming movie stars uh Jack Nicholson Peter Fonda Elliot Gould uh more naturalistic Everyman kind of uh actors and performers Omar God offers I believe in the in the' 70s from Hollywood but you know the the the very first time you're asked you're offered a role and you're asked not to play the hero but the hero's uncle or father or whatever you're suddenly thinking in what very hard to [Music] accept for foreign speee spee [Music] by foree [Music] he could have lived easily in Los Angeles just as easily but he chose living in France where it's less about that star and Hollywood culture uh and it's more about [Music] living for fair [Music] [Music] gambling Caso I think what I was looking for was an outlet uh some something that would give me a strong concentrated emotion excitement which I didn't have in my life [Music] [Music] he lived an extravagant lifestyle for someone who didn't have much he would buy race horses they would lose at one stage he had 40 race horses that died all of a sudden from an illness in a stable bankruptcy from most all his life he was like he would go to a casino lose every penny he had in the bank every penny nothing left he's walking out if he got an electricity bill at home he would he'd get home the phone would ring it would be a movie that covered all the days [Music] yeah he made a lot of bad films but he made a lot of bad films because he had that stage it was it didn't matter really what the film was it mattered how much he was being paid for it and regrettably as with most business the worst the movie is the more they're willing to pay you because they need [Music] you all the god Tom Burton must wage A desperate Fight For Freedom no rer Hower Carol Al Omar Shar in a powerful tale of passion Intrigue and betrayal Beyond Justice some of those films were awful and I used to make fun of him about them and used to do interviews and say all I make is garbage movies and my grandson just makes fun of me non-stop I felt a little bad about that but uh he came to see me for the first time I was a few months old he was doing a play in London and he flew to Montreal where I was born in the middle of winter to see me I was his first grandchild um and I had there photos from the the moment he saw me the cameras were were going and you know you just saw the love in his eyes and he just he just grabbed me hugged me and kissed me as a child I don't think he knew how to whole children at the time uh he wasn't very close to my father as a young child my father was always at boarding school and away at school um and so he wasn't really that close or affectionate with him the relationship isn't so much at the beginning perhaps it's Father and Son before I can remember but then it's it's one of friendship I mean my father was perhaps one of my best friends it's rare to say you know we used to go in Berlin in West Berlin or West Berlin the time we went we used to go you know let's go find young ladies to have dinner with whatever together you know it wasn't so that's not a usual father son relationship you know where you go [Music] his backbone T was his backbone he always leaned on Tark he wouldn't do anything without calling Tark and telling him I'll do this and that once he got into a major shindig a bit of a fight with a casino guy they called me they said there's a problem come quick he's been arrested and I went to get my father I said look I accept that I have to fly from one country to another to get my 19-year-old idiot son out of jail because he want to but I don't expect the fly to get my 75-year-old idiot father out of jail to get guys give me a break for [Music] [Music] [Music] I had sort of hung up my hat you know I I that I hadn't made a film for five years when I made this film because in the last 25 to 30 years I had made very bad films and uh I said I won't work unless something that makes me enthusiastic comes along he got the script he read it or he said he read it I'm not sure he did and he said everyone's telling me this is fabulous here take it it's a 45 minute read ready got out went to him said you're doing this movie he said but they have no money they're offering nothing I said no you pay to do this movie you accept whatever for spee spee foreign for spee for [Music] [Music] actually this film needn't have had a Muslim and a Jew in it but if if there were peace in the world but the fact that there is not peace in the world makes makes it relevant that's that's why I think it's useful for me who is a person from the Middle East and who is respected and loved there to make that that statement which will not influence anybody I'm sure no one will change their minds but I think I had to say it [Music] anyway [Music] [Applause] [Music] for I remember saying to him now that was a good one and he knew it he loved the French he loved living in Paris he loved everything about Paris all his life was getting tourist visas to be in France and the French government was accepting money for the tourist visa say yeah you're a tourist never had social insurance never had anything any of the whenever he had to do an operation while he did it in France he paid he never so you know he was a French export he'd earn abroad and bring the money back to France they're the ones who went after him and he said uh that's it I'll go back to Egypt no and he came back for our butts I told him you've lived all your life in Europe forget it and you have no idea I'm Egyptian you are the one who was brought up abroad you have no idea what being Egyptian is I'm Egyptian it's in my blood [Music] in all fairness he was the apart from Cleopatra and sadad most famous Egyptian you know so that in a way that're proud proud very proud of him here on the other hand they didn't give him any peace they were always after him for something or other or whatever you know come and do this come and do that come and do the other [Music] the hotel Samir Ramis became Omar shar's main residence in Egypt his suite was on the 18th floor from his balcony he unexpectedly witnessed another revolution in Egypt the revolution ontaria Square [Music] the people are always right in my opinion like this I don't I'm not a political man I like to watch sports not not the news but I think that I I find our young people very courageous they are wonderful people I am very proud of my Egyptian young [Music] [Music] people for I think he was hopeful at that time I think he believed in the people and the power of the people to Define their own destiny and I think he was very discouraged later when the Muslim Brotherhood came to power I think he worried that they weren't going to be tolerant and that they weren't going to be representative of all Egyptians [Music] I wrote a an oped piece and it went viral very quickly and I I was sort of questioning their commitment to Human Rights and diversity in Egypt um not because I worried necessarily about LGBT people but more because I worried about the role of women in society and about religious minorities and how they would fare under an Islamic regime um you know that's because of everything he taught me to care about religious minorities and how we treat other people um he found out that I was gay at the same time as everyone else because I wrote that article and because of the reaction to it which was so negative I received a lot of threats of violence um and death threats and I haven't I haven't been back and the first thing he did was he came to my defense which is really amazing CU I didn't know what to expect and he was one of the first people and maybe the only people in Egypt that did that [Music] mhm Omar Sharif spent the last years of his life alternately living in Egypt and Europe as at the beginning of his career he again acted in Egyptian films he also still got roles in France e [Music] [Music] [Music] cop you thought it stories would start to repeat at the dinner table and instead of hearing them nightly all of a sudden I was hearing them two or three times a night he wouldn't remember the story that he told the night before sometimes when he was memory was lagging a little bit would cause him to get anxious and a little aggressive or assertive um these are all telltale signs that we all just chose to ignore can't be cured it can't be but it can be treated in the way that but you have to accept to do exercises to do whatever mental exercises take certain medications on which Omar never accepted he was told he never accepted he said you I'm much more int intelligent than you you know so that's the end of it when you refuse the treatment perhaps the good thing the only good thing you can say but is that when this humiliation is occurring you're not aware of it you you don't know everyone else does but you don't so [Music] [Music] when om passed away uh basically I had all his belongings in two suitcases sh [Music]

Channel: True Story Documentary Channel

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Id: YAjK2XoUx9Q

Length: 51min 42sec (3102 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024