OMAR SHARIF

Written by Michael Darvell
 

(10 April 1932 - 10 July 2015)

Omar Sharif

Celebrated Egyptian actor in films from 1954 who hit global success with Lawrence of Arabia (1962), in which David Lean cast him as Sherif Ali. The Fall of the Roman Empire followed plus Behold a Pale Horse, The Yellow Rolls Royce and Doctor Zhivago. After Funny Girl, opposite Barbra Streisand, the films became steadily less worthy of his talents: Mayerling, Mackenna’s Gold, Che!, The Horsemen, The Burglars, The Tamarind Seed and Juggernaut. The films got worse with Funny Lady, Ashanti, Bloodline etc etc. Sharif made a lot films (over 100) but it is really only the early epics that remain with us and show the actor at his best. Still, his great love was said to be bridge, so perhaps the acting jobs were a means to an end.

MICHAEL DARVELL

 
Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

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