The legendary actor Omar Sharif, whose roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago catapulted him to worldwide fame, has died at the age of 83 from a heart attack. Born Michel Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt in 1932, Sharif captivated audiences with his good looks and leading-man charm.
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In 1967, Sharif starred opposite Sophia Loren in More Than A Miracle, also known as Cindarella Italian Style. In the film, Sharif's Spanish prince is bewitched by Loren's tempestuous Neapolitan peasant girl.
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Director David Lean cast his Lawrence of Arabia star in the epic production of Doctor Zhivago, based on the Boris Pasternak novel of the same name. Sharif plays the titular doctor swept up in the Russian Revolution, with Julie Christie as his star-crossed beloved, Lara. To disguise his Middle Eastern looks, Sharif undertook a daily routine of skin-waxing and hair-straghtening, and he later noted the film almost precipitated a nervous breakdown.
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Sharif starred in The Burglars, or Le Casse, opposite French New Wave star Jean Belmondo, as a corrupt police chief on the trail of emerald theives.
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This 1969 Western saw Sharif playing a Mexican outlaw who kidnaps Gregory Peck's gold-digger.
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Sharif and Sophia Loren starred in this overwrought 1964 epic with Alec Guinness as Marcus Aurelius and Sharif as the King of Armenia.
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Sharif played the Latin American Marxist revolutionary in a 1969 film that, in a strange bit of casting, featured Jack Palance as Fidel Castro.
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This 1971 film, set during the Thirty Years' War, is a fable about a mercenary soldier and a teacher (played by Sharif) who stumble across a hidden valley where peace can finally rule.
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