the codeword to Egyptian personnel designated to seize the offices of Suez Canal Company. Nasser used the codeword repeatedly in a public address in Alexandria that was broadcast to the nation via radio, and minutes later announced that he had issued a presidential decree nationalising the Suez Canal Company. The statue of Lesseps at the entrance of the Suez Canal was removed from its pedestal, to symbolize the end of European control of the waterway. The statue now stands in a small garden of the Port Fuad shipyard. In popular culture Lesseps was portrayed by Tyrone Power in the 1938 film Suez, with Loretta Young, a film which provoked complaints and legal action from Lesseps' family and the Egyptian government. In addition, Manuel Soto played the part in a 1944 Spanish feature film, Eugenia de Montijo. On television, Guy Marchand played Lesseps in the 1983 French/German mini-series L'homme de Suez, and John Walters portrayed him in "The Panama Canal", an episode of the 2003 BBC docu-drama series Seven Wonders of the Industrial World. Lesseps appears as a great engineer in the game Civilization V. Lesseps is also discussed extensively in the David McCullough book The Path Between the Seas. Lesseps descendant Alexandre de Lesseps was married to Luann de Lesseps of The Real Housewives of New York. See also Lesseps metro station in the Barcelona Metro Fort De Lesseps, a U.S. military base in Panama was named in his honor References Sources Blowitz concludes with an assessment of Lesseps' personality. Further reading External links Ferdinand de Lesseps (1887). Recollections of forty years. Volume 1. Volume 2. From Internet Archive. André Gill (1867). "Ferdinand de Lesseps", caricature painting of Ferdinand de Lesseps. The Delesseps Family : This page focuses on Viscount de Lesseps' family The A.B. Nichols archival collection of documents and materials related to the Panama Canal includes a number of references to the French project, including photographs of de Lesseps and his house in Panama. Associació de Veïns i Comerciants de la Plaça Lesseps, Gràcia, Barcelona, Catalonia 1805 births 1894 deaths People from Versailles Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Ferdinand 19th-century French diplomats Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences French businesspeople Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Académie Française People of the Revolutions of 1848 Suez Canal Panama Canal French canal engineers French expatriates in Egypt French expatriates in Italy French expatriates