Actor Omar Sharif dies two months after Alzheimer’s revelation

The Oscar-nominated Egyptian actor, 83, passed away in his home city of Cairo.

Acting legend and silver screen heartthrob Omar Sharif died of a heart attack last Friday. It was only recently revealed that the actor, who was most famous for his Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago, had Alzheimer’s disease.

His son, Tarek Sharif, had spoken in a Spanish newspaper in May of his diagnosis and how his father had started to get confused about the films he’d been in.

‘He still knows he’s a famous actor …[but]… the loss of memory affects above all specific things, details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film,’ Tarek El-Sharif told El Mundo.

‘He remembers, for example, that it was Doctor Zhivago but he’s forgotten when it was filmed.

‘He can talk about the film but he forgets its name or he calls it something else instead like Lawrence of Arabia.’

As well as acting, Sharif was also a very successful bridge player, and enjoyed playing it well into later life, and also spoke six languages. He continued working until fairly recently, his last film Rock the Casbah came out in 2013. His performance in the French Moroccan film won him praise from critics who said his ‘star quality’ still shone out at the age of 82.

His funeral was held on Sunday and news of his death was greeted with sadness from many of his fellow actors including Barbra Streisand and Antonio Banderas.

His death comes 18 months after that of his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Peter O’Toole.