In honour of his birthday, Google is changing its logo in 48 countries to an illustration of Omar Sharif.
This is a snapshot of 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 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.
Despite Sharif's image as a eligible bachelor, he did not remarry, saying he never fell in love with another woman.
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 for best supporting actor, propelling him to international fame.
But international recognition came at a 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 any more 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 as Doctor Zhivago, is celebrated in the latest Google Doodle on what would have been his 86th birthday.
After beginning his screen 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.
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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 club 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 that 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.”
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Omar Sharif has been honoured with today's Google doodle, marking what would have been his 86th birthday.
The actor is probably best known for playing the title role in 1965 romance Doctor Zhivago and alongside Peter O'Toole in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.
But he had a huge and varied career that saw him net three Golden Globes and a nomination for an Academy Award.
Many might not know that as well as being an actor, Sharif was an international bridge player and even wrote a syndicated column about the card game that appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
Who was Omar Sharif?
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: Google)
Born Michel Demitri Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt 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 in which he co-starred with his future wife, actress Faten Hamama.
With Lawrence of Arabia, Sharif expanded his orbit from Egyptian matinee idol to international heartthrob.
What were his famous films?
(Image: Getty Images)
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) and a big-time gambler in Funny Girl (1968).
"Today’s animated Doodle shows Sharif in true dashing form," said the team at Google.
In 1963 he picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Lawrence of Arabia.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
Omar Sharif's love life
Dark-eyed heartthrob Sharif won the hearts of women all over the world after appearing on the big screen.
He stepped out with some of the world’s most glamorous women and admitted to falling in love with co-stars Ingrid Bergman and Ava Gardner.
According to Omar’s grandson, Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean would fly beauties in for Sharif and Peter O'Toole.
The two stars became firm friends and after wrapping scenes they would disappear into the drinking dens of Beirut – or retire to hotel rooms where their bathtubs were filled with champagne and women.
Omar Junior said: “Peter O’Toole and my grandfather remained very close friends. They were always sharing stories and reminiscing. And Peter told me all about what trouble they got in out there.
However, he denied his reputation as a womaniser.
Who was Omar Sharif's spouse?
(Image: Getty Images)
The actor married only once, to fellow Egyptian film legend Faten Hamama in 1955, converting from Christianity to Islam so they could marry a year after they starred together in the film Struggle in the Valley.
The couple had one son and two grandsons together. They separated in 1966 and divorced in 1974.
What did he do in later life?
When his heyday seemed to be behind him and the big roles started drying up, Sharif passed his days drinking with Peter O’Toole and other Hollywood hedonists.
(Image: Getty Images)
A regular in casinos, he is said to have lost £4million on the Spanish island of Lanzarote during a bridge game in the 1970s.
He also famously gave up playing roulette after he lost £750,000 in one night.
To fund his extravagant lifestyle, he wrote a column on card games for the Chicago Tribune and accepted roles as the “foreign gentleman” in a string of mediocre films.
Sharif started turning down acting offers in the 1990s after his grandchildren reportedly began mocking him for the roles he had accepted.
(Image: Getty)
Sharif's surprising love of British football team
You wouldn't expect many A-list stars at the KCOM Stadium, but Sharif was a lifelong Hull City fan.
He was introduced to the club by his friend Tom Courtenay during the 1960s and even flew in to watch the team in their FA Cup final against Arsenal in 2014.
Omar, then 82, was invited to the match by fellow Egyptian and Tigers owner Assem Allam and recorded a reading of William Blake’s poem, The Tyger, for BT Sport in tribute to the club.
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He said: “Tom kept telling me about Hull City, so I began to idolise the team.”
Omar’s Hull link was recognised in 2010, when he got an honorary degree from Hull University and met his all-time top Tigers player Ken Wagstaff.
When and how did Omar Sharif die?
Back in 1992, Sharif had a triple heart bypass which caused him to quit smoking. Before that he was smoking up to 100 cigarettes a day.
Omar Sharif died in Cairo, Egypt on 10 July, 2015 from a heart attack after it was reported in May 2015 that he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
He was laid to rest at a packed-out funeral ceremony in Cairo the following week.
(Image: Getty)
The casket was carried in covered in the Egyptian flag and a black shroud, as mourners gathered to say a final farewell.
Among those attending were actor Hussein Fahmy and former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawas.
Fahmy reportedly described Sharif as "a man who loved Egypt and represented the Egyptian art in its best form."
