Whether you're a serious cinephile or a middling moviegoer, chances are you've seen at least one of the many classic films starring legendary actor Omar Sharif.
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00:00The Oscar-nominated actor Omar Sharif spent the remaining years of his life immersing
00:05himself in a popular card game. So what game was it, and how else did the legendary actor
00:10spend his final days?
00:13Award-winning actor Omar Sharif was an acclaimed international movie star. His leading roles
00:18in two hit films in the 1960s, both epics by director David Lean, catapulted him into
00:23superstardom. Lawrence of Arabia earned him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe win
00:28for Best Supporting Actor in 1963, while Dr. Zhivago earned Sharif a Best Actor Golden
00:34Globe in 1966.
00:37Sharif was easily recognized by his dashing good looks and gap-toothed smile, and he worked
00:41steadily in the movies from his 1953 film debut in Egypt, where he was born, Onward.
00:47He notably appeared opposite Barbra Streisand in her first film, Funny Girl, and then with
00:51Julie Andrews in the spy thriller The Tamarind Seed.
00:54By the mid-1970s, his acting career dwindled as he focused on the card game Bridge. Sharif
01:00was so successful at the game that he was ranked among the world's best players. Sadly,
01:04in early 2015, his agent confirmed that Sharif had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
01:10The actor died July 10 of that year at the age of 83 from a heart attack.
01:14Sharif's condition was first revealed by his son Tariq al-Sharif in 2015 to the Spanish
01:19newspaper El Mundo. His son told the newspaper,
01:22It's difficult to determine what stage it's at. It's obvious he'll never improve and it
01:26will get worse. Tariq said that his father had begun showing signs of dementia three
01:31years prior. While suffering from the degenerative disease, Omar Sharif apparently still lived
01:36a comfortable life close to his son, only moving to a hospital at the very end of his
01:40life. The actor stayed in a luxury hotel in a resort town in Egypt, and kept to a daily
01:45routine of sitting on his terrace during the day and listening to live music at the hotel
01:50bar at night. But any deviation from this routine — such as going to a restaurant
01:54in town — left Sharif insecure.
01:56His son Tariq told El Mundo,
01:58He still knows he's a famous actor. The loss of memory affects above all specific things,
02:03details like when he was in a specific place or when he acted within a specific film.
02:07Tariq also said that his father sometimes believed that approaching fans were people
02:11he knew and had forgotten about. A common early symptom of Alzheimer's is sudden aggression
02:16or anger, which might explain Sharif's behavior in 2011, when he impulsively slapped a fan
02:21who had asked for a photo with the actor. Sharif had been noted for his testiness in
02:25decades prior as well. He faced a misdemeanor and was forced to take an anger management
02:29class in 2007 for punching a parking valet, and also reportedly got into a fight at a
02:34Paris casino in 2003, per NBC News.
02:38Sharif's strong will persisted even as he fought the disease. He refused to believe
02:41he was sick, according to his son, and didn't do exercises prescribed by his doctors to
02:46prolong his life. In his final days, when he was moved to one of Egypt's top hospitals,
02:51Sharif refused to eat and was put on a drip.
02:54Before his sickness and death, Sharif had a long and interesting life, even as his acting
02:59career faded. Sharif played in international bridge tournaments and at the 1964 and 1968
03:04Olympics in the World Bridge Federation. He wrote books and released videos and video
03:09games on Bridge. He even published a syndicated column on the game.
03:13Sharif was such an aggressive gambler, according to NBC News, that he once won $1 million at
03:18an Italian casino, but also lost a villa at a card game in the 1970s. As Sharif got older,
03:24his film roles tapered off, and when he did accept roles, he would later describe them
03:27as, quote,
03:28"...rubbish."
03:29Look, I stopped making movies because for the last 25 years, I've been making a lot
03:34of rubbish.
03:35He declined parts in the 1990s, explaining that he had lost his, quote,
03:40"...self-respect and dignity."
03:41But he did accept a film in 2003, a French drama titled Monsieur Ibrahim, in which he
03:47played a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy. His performance earned him the
03:51César Award, the French equivalent of the Academy Award, and also earned Sharif some
03:56of his best reviews in decades, according to the BBC.