Omar Sharif Passes Away: Legendary Actor And Star Of "Lawrence of Arabia" ,"Doctor Zhivago" And Icon Of Arab Cinema Dies At 83

"Truly, for some men nothing is written unless THEY write it." goes an iconic dialogue from the classic film "Lawrence of Arabia". Sadly the person who delivered this brilliant line is no more in our midst.

Omar Sharif, the dashing, Egyptian-born actor who was one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1960s, with memorable roles in Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl, has died. He was 83.

Sharif suffered a heart attack on Friday afternoon in a hospital in Cairo, as per reports.

It was announced in May that he had Alzheimer’s disease.

With the global success of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O’Toole, in 1962, Sharif became the first Arab actor to achieve worldwide fame, thanks to his charismatic presence in the epic film — and the Oscar nomination he drew because of it.

Sharif very quickly became a busy Hollywood actor: He made three films in 1964, including Behold a Pale Horse and The Yellow Rolls Royce, and three in 1965, including his first lead role in an English-language production, as the title character in Lean’s Dr. Zhivago, for which he won a Golden Globe.

His gentle continental accent and dark but hard-to-place good looks ensured that the actor was not ethnically typecast. In Behold a Pale Horse he played a Spaniard, in ''Zhivago'' a Russian, in ''Genghis Khan'' a Mongol, in Funny Girl a New York Jewish gambler and in ''The Night of the Generals,'' a German major during WWII.

Omar was also an accomplished bridge player and a keen gambler, reportedly once winning a million dollars at an Italian casino but also losing a villa in Lanzarote, Spain as a result of a card game in the 1970s.

In the late 1990s Sharif began declining film offers, claiming he had lost his "self-respect and dignity".

One film he did accept was the 2003 French drama "Monsieur Ibraham", in which he appeared as a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy.

The film won him the Cesar, the French equivalent of the Oscar, as well as some of his best reviews in decades.

In November 2005, Sharif received UNESCO’s Sergei Eisenstein Medal in recognition of his significant contributions to world film and cultural diversity.

He is survived by a son and two grandsons, Omar Sharif Jr., an actor, and Karim.

RIP Omar Sharif. You will always be missed.