Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif (; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor who worked in many Hollywood movies. He acted in Arabic, French, and English movies. Sharif is most famous for his roles in Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl (1968). He was nominated for the Academy Award and won the Golden Globe Award three times. Sharif had a son and two grandsons. He converted from Christianity to Islam.

 Contract bridge career 
Sharif once ranked among the world's best-known contract bridge players, forming the "Omar Sharif Bridge Circus" in 1967 which toured the world, competing against famous teams.

With Charles Goren, Sharif co-wrote a syndicated newspaper bridge column for the Chicago Tribune for several years, but later turned over most of the writing of the column to Tannah Hirsch.

He was also author or co-author of several books on bridge, and licensed his name to a bridge video game. An MS-DOS version and Amiga version was released in 1992 as Omar Sharif on Bridge. It is still sold in Windows and "mobile platform" versions.

 Health and death 
In May 2015, it was reported that Sharif had Alzheimer's disease. His son, Tarek El-Sharif, said that his father was getting confused. He was forgetting facts about some of the biggest movies of his career.

On July 10, 2015, at the age of 83, Sharif died after a heart attack at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt.

On July 12, 2015, Sharif's funeral was held at the Grand Mosque of Mushir Tantawi in eastern Cairo. The funeral was attended by a group of Sharif's relatives, friends and Egyptian actors. His casket was draped in the Egyptian flag and a black shroud.  He is burued in El-Sayeda Nafisa cemetery in southern Cairo.

 References 

 Other websites 

Category:1932 births
Category:2015 deaths
Category:Contract bridge players
Category:Converts to Islam
Category:Egyptian movie actors
Category:Egyptian Muslims
Category:Egyptian sportspeople
Category:Egyptian television actors
Category:Former Christians
Category:Golden Globe Award winning actors
Category:People from Alexandria
Category:People with Alzheimer's disease
Category:Cairo University alumni