Turner Classic Movies Pays Tribute to Omar Sharif on Monday, September 21 with the following festival of films. This program will replace the previously scheduled movies for that evening so please take note.

The new schedule for Monday, September 21 will be:
8:00 PM Doctor Zhivago
11:30 PM Funny Girl
2:30 AM Funny Lady


Perhaps best known for his roles in two classic epics of the 1960s, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965), Sharif was a leading man in his native Egypt before coming to Hollywood, making his film debut in the 1954 film Devil of the Sahara. His breakthrough role came with Arabia (his first English language film), which led to an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win. He quickly followed up with starring roles in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Zhivago (for which he won his second Golden Globe) and Funny Girl (1968), and more recently appeared in such films as Monsieur Ibrahim (2003) and Hidalgo (2006), among others.

After several years of working for his father's successful lumber company, Sharif made his film debut in the Egyptian-made Sina Fil Wadi/The Blazing Sun (1954), co-starring future wife Faten Hamama. Almost overnight, he became an Egyptian matinee idol, starring in a total of 22 films from 1954-1961, often co-starring with his wife. These comedies, romances and adventures were not seen outside the Middle East, but the darkly handsome, mustachioed and multilingual actor eventually caught the eye of the rest of the world.

It took director David Lean, who cast Sharif as the lead's best friend in the epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962), to catapult the actor to international success. His role as an Arab chieftain earned him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and an American film contract. After finishing up some Egyptian commitments, he played various ethnic types: a Spaniard in Behold a Pale Horse (1964), an Armenian in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and a Yugoslavian in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964). After playing Genghis Khan (1965) in a multinational production, he got his real star-making part, as the soulful, love-crossed Doctor Zhivago in David Lean's popular epic of the Russian Revolution, based on the Pasternak novel.

His next major hit was Funny Girl, in which he was appealing if miscast as Nicky Arnstein, Fanny Brice's second husband. He finished out the 60s in style, for the most part, with the high-budgeted Mayering (1968) as the suicidal Crown Prince Rudolf, Sidney Lumet's romantic mystery The Appointment (1969), the title role in the disastrous Che! (also 1969) and the hit Western McKenna's Gold (1969).

But Sharif's vogue seemed to pass with the 70s, or perhaps there were only so many foreign leading man roles available. Still, he made eleven films in the decade in almost as many countries. His American releases included John Frankenheimer's The Horsemen (1971) and the thriller Bloodline (1979). In Britain, Sharif appeared in Richard Lester's suspense drama Juggernaut (1974) and two Blake Edwards' films, The Tamarind Seed (1974), opposite Julie Andrews, and The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), as well as the adventure Ashanti (1979). His latter-day film work has taken him to France (Les Possedes, 1987), Italy (Viaggio d'Amore, 1990), Egypt (Al Moaten al Myssri, 1991) and Japan (Tengoku No Taizai, 1992). Back in the US, Sharif had a supporting role in the raucous comedy Top Secret! (1984).

Television was kinder to Sharif in later years. He made his TV-movie debut in the earnest, all-star The Poppy Is Also a Flower (ABC, 1968), about international drug trading, and remained active in that medium. Some longforms provided him with excellent roles, better showcases than he had gotten on the big screen. He was a professional gambler in The Pleasure Palace (CBS, 1980), Ben Cross' Indian mentor in The Far Pavilions (HBO, 1984), a Turkish sultan in Harem (ABC, 1986), a Russian Prince in Peter the Great (NBC, 1986), a romantic Frenchman in the comedy Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris (CBS, 1992) and a sorcerer in the superb adaptation of Swift's Gulliver's Travels (NBC, 1996).

Sharif was also a professional bridge player who authored books and a newspaper column on the subject, as well as representing Egypt in the 1964 Olympic bridge competition.

(Biographical data provided by TCMDb)


"When we were making Zhivago, David Lean, the director, used to say, 'Omar, please take out the violins. I hear 28 violins.' And I would say, 'but I can't!' Then I would do the scene again and he would say, 'only eight violins this time.' And I would say, 'eight violins is my minimum.'" --Omar Sharif, quoted in the New York Times, April 12, 1995.

"Sometimes I wonder if I would have been happier if I had never made Lawrence of Arabia. I had a beautiful house, a wonderful wife. I made all the films I wanted. My wife and I worked together often. What more could you want? I could have had a beautiful home now, four kids, seven grandchildren. Ah, my destiny was different." --Omar Sharif, quoted in the New York Times, April 12, 1995.

"I lost my self-respect and dignity, even my grandchildren were making fun of me. 'Grandpa, that was really bad. And this one? Even worse.' I decided to retire, unless something good came along. But no more rubbish."---Sharif on his string of bad films, which led him to retire --EW, March 19, 2004