article: He brought a smouldering intensity to films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. A man of striking good looks he escorted some of the world's most beautiful women. But he quit acting to become a ubiquitous presence at the world's most exclusive gaming tables. Michel Demitri Shalhoub was born in Alexandria on 10 April 1932 into a family of Lebanese ancestry. His father was a wealthy timber merchant specialising in exotic woods. His mother was a noted society hostess with King Farouk a regular visitor, before he was deposed in 1952. The young Shalhoub studied at the British Victoria College in Alexandria where he showed himself to be academically gifted with a particular talent for languages. He went on to graduate from the University of Cairo with a degree in mathematics and physics before joining the family business. But he harboured ambitions to be an actor and, much to the disappointment of his father, went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). During the 1950s he appeared in a number of Egyptian films, rapidly becoming a star in his own country. He also married the Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, converting from his Melkite Greek Catholicism to Islam so the union could take place. When David Lean was looking to cast a film about TE Lawrence, he picked out a photograph of Sharif and gave him a screen test. Sharif's first on-screen appearance as Ali, riding across the sands out of a shimmering heat haze towards the camera, was one of cinema's most stunning debuts. Lawrence of Arabia made him a truly international star. The film earned seven Oscars and nominations for both Sharif and his co-star, Peter O'Toole. He followed this with another intense portrayal, that of the eponymous Doctor Zhivago, in Lean's 1965 Russian epic, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak. With his black eyes and famous gap-toothed smile, Sharif was depicted as a type of Rudolf Valentino of the 1960s. He later called this a triumph of hype over accuracy, but he certainly escorted some of the world's most glamorous women. "I don't know what women are attracted to," he said, "but certainly I have no notion about having any sex appeal." Sharif admitted to falling madly for his co-stars, among them Ingrid Bergman, Catherine Deneuve and Ava Gardner. But, disillusioned with the regime of Colonel Nasser in Egypt, he began spending more time away from his native country. The Egyptian authorities were also angered by Sharif's role in Funny Girl, alongside co-star Barbra Streisand. The actress was a vocal supporter of Israel and the Egyptians threatened to withdraw his citizenship when it emerged the pair were having a relationship. Sharif's career failed to fulfil its early promise, and the actor was the first to admit he squandered his talent in pursuit of easy money. He spent his time drinking away the days with O'Toole and other renowned hell-raisers. The evenings he spent gambling, a passion he inherited from his mother. To fund his hedonistic lifestyle, not least his debts at the
summary: Omar Sharif was the most famous Egyptian actor of his generation.