Lesser Known Facts about Anwar Wagdy on His Birth Anniversary

Today, Oct. 11 marks the 117th anniversary of the birth of the late renowned actor Egyptian Anwar Wagdy. As we celebrate the birth anniversary of this iconic star; check out 5 fascinating facts about him.

Born in the El Daher district, Cairo, on 11 October 1904, Wagdy was the first leading man to become a box office star in the history of Egyptian cinema.

His first advanced breakthrough in film came with "Defense" in 1934, a classic film directed by Youssef Wahbi and starring the best-known actors at the time:  Wahbi, Amina Rizk, Hussein Riyad, Rouhiya Khaled, and Bishara Wakim.

After that, the remarkable actor became one of the Egyptian and Arab world’s top male stars for much of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s in the heydays of Egyptian cinema.

Later on, he acted in numerous prominent films, starting and working with renowned Egyptian stars.

According to domestic media, Wagdy spent generously on his movies and plays and managed to make his money back through innovative methods in publicity and distribution.

In order to create the blockbusters of his time, the remarkable actor was also skilful in combining the elements of unfailing commercial formulas.

Despite the fact that Wagdy was ingenious in various fields, critics and audience must admit that his wide-ranging fame was built on his screen presence over anything else and came before his involvement in other fields.

Wagdi was well-known for his seminal works, such as 'Agnihat el sahara' (1939), 'Al-Azeema' (1939), El warsha (1941), 'Leila fil zalam' (1944), 'Kedb fi kedb' (1944), 'Gharam wa intiqam' (1944), 'Tahia el rajala' (1945), 'Ragaa' (1945), 'Madinat el ghajar' (1945), 'Lailat el jumaa' (1945), 'Lailat el haz' (1945), 'Kubla fi Lubnan' (1945), 'Kataltu waladi' (1945), 'El-qalb louh wahid' (1945) and 'Arbaa' banat we zabit' (1954).

Wagdy was married three times to Egyptian actresses Elham Hussein, Leila Mourad, and Laila Fawzi.

Unfortunately, the great actor died at 50 in Sweden while seeking treatment for polycystic kidney disease.