Described as "The Noble", Omar Sharif would have been 86-year-old on Tuesday, April 10, 2018.
In his honour, Google is changing its logo in 48 countries to an illustration of him.
This is a snapshot his story:
Early steps
Born in 1932 to Syrian-Lebanese parents in Alexandria, Egypt, Sharif's birth name was Michel Demitri Shalhoub.
Before becoming an actor, he graduated with a degree in mathematics and physics from Cairo University and worked for several years at his father's lumber company.
He later left the family business and went on to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Britain's capital.
In 1954, he began his acting career and starred in films with one of Egypt's leading actresses, Faten Hamama.
In 1955, he converted to Islam, changed his name to Omar Sharif, and married Faten soon after. They had a son, Tarek, before separating in 1966 and divorcing in 1974.
International fame
Sharif appeared in a number of Egyptian films before the British director David Lean added him to the cast of Lawrence of Arabia.
appeared in a number of Egyptian films before the British director David Lean added him to the cast of Lawrence of Arabia. Sharif played the role of an Arab warrior. The scene showing his arrival is considered a classic piece of cinema.
He first appears as a tiny dot in the desert horizon, growing larger as his camel gallops into the frame with Peter O'Toole.
His performance brought him an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor, propelling him to international fame.
But the international recognition came at hefty personal price, as Sharif intimated in an interview with The Associated Press news agency in 2003.
"It separated me from my wife, from my family ... We didn't see each other anymore and that was it, the end of our wedding," he said. "I might have been happier having stayed an Egyptian film star."
I might have been happier having stayed an Egyptian film star Omar Sharif
Career struggles
After winning a third Golden Globe award for acting in Doctor Zhivago, Sharif's career went downhill.
He attributed his change of film fortune to what he called ''the cultural revolution'' at the end of the 1960s, as new directors focused on "making films about their own societies. There was no more room for a foreigner, so suddenly there were no more parts [for him to act]',' Sharif said.
He began appearing in films such as "The Pink Panther Strikes Again", and others he dismissed as "rubbish".
"I lost my self-respect and dignity," he told a reporter in 2004. "Even my grandchildren were making fun of me. 'Grandpa, that was really bad. And this one? It's worse.'"
I lost my self-respect and dignity Omar Sharif
Health problems
Sharif had a triple heart bypass in 1992 and suffered a mild heart attack in 1994. At the time, he was declining film offers.
Away from his cinema career, Sharif was a world-class bridge player and also wrote on bridge for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. He quit the game in later years.
In May 2015, Sharif was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was struggling to remember the biggest films of his career, according to his son, Tarek.
Sharif died in Cairo after suffering a heart attack on July 10, 2015, less than six months after his ex-wife's death.
Accolades
Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor best known for starring in films such Doctor Zhivago, is celebrated in the latest Google Doodle on what would have been his 86th birthday.
After beginning his career as a teenager in his native country, he was catapulted to international fame by a Golden Globe-winning turn in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia in 1962.
He earned further plaudits three years later with a leading role as the titular Russian medic and poet in Doctor Zhivago as he became one of few Arabic actors to break into the Hollywood mainstream.
He also lived an eventful life away from the big screen.
Here are five things you might know about Sharif.
1. He was a champion bridge player
After reportedly learning how to play contact bridge to pass the time on movie sets, Sharif developed a passion for the card game that eclipsed his enjoyment of acting.
He grew into an expert player and for a time was ranked among the top 50 in the world.
During the 1970s he wrote a bridge column for the Chicago Tribune newspaper, and authored several books on the game.
“I’d rather be playing bridge than making a bad movie,” he once said.
However, he later stopped playing entirely, saying he considered his passion for the game to have grown into an unhealthy addiction.
2. He once punched Ian Dury
After encountering Sharif in a London in 1985, rock star Dury – apparently a few drinks worse for wear – decided to impart some film criticism to the actor, who had been dining with a young female companion.
“I think the first film you made was your best one, everything else was s**t,” he told him.
An argument broke out between the pair which culminated in Sharif leaping from his seat and repeatedly punching Dury in the face, according to Richard Balls’ biography of the Blockheads frontman.
Omar Sharif's life in pictures
18 show all Omar Sharif's life in pictures
1/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures American actress and singer Barbra Streisand with actor Omar Sharif (whose name is misspelt on the chair behind), circa 1980. They are recreating their love scene from the 1968 film 'Funny Girl' Getty Images
2/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif and Pierre Boulanger in Monsieur Ibrahim (2003) Sony Pictures
3/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Geraldine Chaplin and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965) Warner Bros
4/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
5/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Geraldine Chaplin and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
6/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Julie Christie and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965) Warner Bros
7/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif and Rod Steiger in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
8/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Julie Christie and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
9/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Julie Christie and Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago (1965)
10/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia
11/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif and Ralph Richardson in Doctor Zhivago (1965) Warner Bros
12/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures 25th January 1980: Actor Omar Sharif at the Sunday Times International Bridge Pairs Championships, in London. Getty Images
13/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Actors Anouk Aimee and Omar Sharif in a scene from the film 'The Appointment', 1969. Getty Images
14/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Omar Sharif is Prince Romodanovsky, Olegar Fedoro is Boyar Lopukhin in 'Peter the Great'
15/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif and Zuleikha Robinson in Hidalgo (2004) Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
16/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Still of Omar Sharif in Monsieur Ibrahim (2003) Sony Pictures
17/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Actor Omar Sherif attends the Closing Ceremony at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival in 2009 in Venice, Italy Getty Images
18/18 Omar Sharif's life in pictures Omar Sharif speaks after he was awarded as Best actor of the year during the 29th Nuit des Cesars at the Chatelet theatre in Paris in 2004 Getty Images
It was not the only time Sharif’s temper got the better of him.
In 2003 he was given a suspended sentence for headbutting a police officer in a Parisian casino.
“It made me the hero of the whole of France,” he later said, unapologetically. “To headbutt a cop is the dream of every Frenchman.”
3. He was a big fan of Hull City Football Club
Sharif shared a flat with Hull-born actor Tom Courtenay in the 1960s, during which time the Yorkshireman passed on his passion for the Tigers.
Sharif remained a lifelong Hull City fan and was awarded an honorary degree by the city’s university in 2010.
Courtenay and Sharif reunited at Wembley to watch their beloved team narrowly beaten by Arsenal in the 2014 FA Cup final.
4. He claimed to receive thousands of marriage proposals a week
Strikingly handsome and notoriously charming, Sharif once boasted he received 3,000 offers of marriage in Doctor Zhivago‘s opening week.
He in fact married just the once, to fellow Egyptian actor Faten Hamama, with whom he feel in love after they co-starred in a film early in his career. He converted to Islam and changed his name from Michael Shalhoub to Omar el-Sharif so they could marry, but they divorced 19 years later after having one son together.
Although he never remarried, there were many more women in his life. Commenting on a second son he fathered during a brief affair with an Italian journalist in 1969, he said: “I don’t consider him to be my son, although I concede that he was probably produced by a sperm of mine. But then it is possible that I might have 100,000 sons.”
5. A besotted fan tried to seduce him at gunpoint
While staying in a hotel room in Dallas in the 1960s a drunken female fan forced her way into Sharif’s hotel room and ordered him to take his clothes off.
But an essential part of his anatomy, quite understandably, refused to respond to the threat of a bullet.
“Using her free hand she sought to encourage me,” he later recounted. ”In vain. As it would have been with anyone.”
WHAT would have been Omar Sharif's 86th birthday has been marked by a Google Doodle today.
Here's the lowdown on the Egyptian actor who shot to international fame in the 1960s.
Getty - Contributor What would have been Omar Sharif's 86th birthday has been marked with a Google doodle
Who was Omar Sharif?
Omar Sharif was born Michel Dimitri Chalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt on 10 April 1932 to a Catholic mum and dad originally from Syria.
When he was aged four his family moved to Cairo where they became close friends with Egypt's King Farouk up until he was ousted from power in 1952.
He would later go on to Cario University to study maths and physics before moving to London to study acting at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art.
Following his conversion to Islam in 1955 to marry his wife Faten Hamama, he changed his name to Omar Sharif.
Sharif's likeness was emblazoned across the top of the search engine today
What were his biggest films?
Sharif starred in dozens of films during his long career which spanned from 1954 to 2015, the year of his death.
After becoming a star in his native Egypt he burst onto the international scene with his breakout role in Lawrence of Arabia alongside Peter O'Toole and Alec Guinness in 1962.
He received two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in the WW1 epic.
Film Company Sharif starred in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia as Sherif Ali
Rex Features He also had the title role in the 1965 movie Dr Zhivago
Three years later he was cast in the title roll in the epic Doctor Zhivago set during the Russian Revolution, also directed by David Lean.
In 1968 he was cast opposite Barbara Streisand in her first film Funny Girl, a move which angered the Egyptian government because of her Jewish heritage.
Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia
Who was his wife?
Sharif converted to Islam and changed his name to marry his wife, actress Faten Hamama and had one child with her.
He and Streisand became romantically involved during the production which almost saw his citizenship revoked after it was exposed in the Hollywood press.
Sharif and his wife remained married until 1974 when they divorced after 19 years together.
When did Omar Sharif die?
Sharif died on 10 July 2015 at the age of 83 following a heart attack.
He had suffered heart problems for years having had a bypass in 1992 and suffering a mild heart attack two years later.
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Up until the operation it was reported that the actor had 100 cigarette a day habit but quit after the op.
Sharif suffered from Alzheimer's disease towards the end of his life with his only son, Tarek, reporting that he began confusing his two biggest films Dr Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia.
He is buried in the El-Sayeda Nafisa cemetery in southern Cairo.
Omar Sharif in Doctor Zhivago
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Actor Omar Sharif made his indelible mark on Hollywood cinema without uttering a word. Playing the Arab warrior Sherif Ali in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, Sharif first appears as a tiny dot on the desert horizon, growing larger as his camel gallops into the frame with Peter O’Toole.
From that point on, he continued on an incredible journey that made his indelible mark on Cinema in the arab world and beyond.
Born Michel Demitri Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt on this day in 1932, Sharif worked for his father’s lumber company before pursuing a movie career. Taking the name Omar El-Sharif, he starred in Egyptian hits including his first film in 1954, Struggle in the Valley (also known as The Blazing Sun, in which he co-starred with his future wife, actress Faten Hamama ), A Rumor of Love (1960), and There is a Man in Our House (1961).
With Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Sharif expanded his orbit from Egyptian matinee idol to international heartthrob. During the 1960s, the charismatic, multilingual actor played, among other roles, a king of Armenia in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), a Mongol leader in Genghis Khan (1965), a Russian doctor in Doctor Zhivago (1965)—perhaps his most acclaimed part—and a big-time gambler in the box-office sensation Funny Girl (1968).
Sharif racked up two Golden Globes and an Oscar nomination for Lawrence of Arabia. He also received numerous other awards including a César for the 2003 film, Monsieur Ibrahim, and a UNESCO Einstein medal in 2005, acknowledging his contributions to cultural diversity.
While acting was his main occupation, Sharif was also an internationally renowned bridge player, writing a syndicated column on the topic for the Chicago Tribune.
Today’s animated Doodle shows Sharif in true dashing form.
Happy 86th birthday, Omar Sharif!
