Actor Omar Sharif dies at 83

Legendary actor Omar Sharif died at the age of 83 from a heart attack on Friday in Cairo, Egypt, and stars are taking to Twitter with reactions to the sad news. He won Golden Globes for both films and nabbed an Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Lawrence as Sherif Ali.

Other big roles followed with Sharif starring opposite Julie Christie and Tom Courtenay in Doctor Zhivago, where he played the title character in the romantic epic set in revolutionary Russian Federation.

Sharif went on to play Fanny Brice’s husband, Nicky Arnstein, in amusing Girl – and subsequently starred in the sequel, amusing Lady – alongside Barbra Streisand.

Sharif’s stellar Hollywood career spanned more than 60 years and included over 118 TV and movie roles.

After the announcement of Sharif’s death, his grandson, actor and activist Omar Sharif Jr.

In May, the Los Angeles Times reported that Sharif had Alzheimer’s disease.

Though his celebrity declined beginning in the late 1970s, Sharif worked steadily in film and television until recent years, when his health began declining. His most recent film credit was for a role in the 2013 film “Rock the Casbah“. At the same, the Six-Day War had occurred and Sharif would almost lose his Egyptian citizenship when a still photo of the two kissing went public.

Born Michel Shalhoub on April 10, 1932, to a wealthy family in Alexandria, Egypt, Sharif became interested in acting while studying mathematics and physics at university in Cairo.

He was married once, to fellow Egyptian thespian Faten Hamama, who died in January. “He remembers, for example, [he was in] Doctor Zhivago but he’s forgotten when it was filmed”.

He co-wrote a syndicated bridge newspaper column in the 1970s and 80s, as well as authoring several books and a bridge computer game, Omar Sharif Bridge.

Fluent in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian and Spanish, Sharif spent many years living between France, Italy and the United States, before settling back in his native country.