Lesser-known Facts About Shadia on Her 5th Death Anniv.

Today marks the 5th death anniversary of Shadia, best known for playing Fatma in "Unknown Woman" film.

Shadia was among the iconic singers in the entertainment industry. She was born in 1931 and breathed her last five years ago. The iconic vocalist was not only known for her stellar singing talent, but also for being a prolific actress. As Arab fans remember Shadia on her death anniversary, read on to know some interesting facts about the late star.

She holds several records as a singer with her countable songs in various Arabic accents; she was the first receptionist of the honorary doctorate of the Egyptian Academy of Arts. Moreover, she bagged the Cairo Festival Awards several times. The remarkable star had also recorded many songs in a short time and was a favourite for many composers.

The iconic director Mohamed Abdel-Gawad at the end of 1946 and the beginning of 1947 was looking for a new face with Egyptian and European features to play the leading role in, (Flowers and Thorns), produced by Studio Misr.

Consequently, Abdel-Gawad chose Shadia, who was known for her resemblance with American Audrey Hepburn, the biggest Hollywood female superstar, to sing in both Flowers and Thorns and The Tramp, replacing another star, Hekmat Fahmy, a famous bellydancer at the time.

After that, the actress became one of the Egyptian and Arab world’s top female stars for much of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s in the heydays of Egyptian cinema.

Throughout her long-standing career, the stunning star featured in many romantic films, such as (We Loved Each Other), (The Sun Has Glowed), (One Two), Ya Deblet El-Khutuba (The Engagement Ring), and Maksoufa (I Am Shy), Ahbek Wa Adahi fi Hobbek (I Love You and Sacrifice in My Loving You) and Meen Qallek Tuskun fi Haratna (Who Told You to Live in Our Neighbourhood).

Shadia, who had a screen career of about 30 years, married three times. Her first husband was actor Emad Hamdi. She then married engineer Aziz Fathi later in the 1950s, and they separated in the 1960s. After a while, the remarkable actress married actor Salah Zulfikar in 1964, and they proceed in 1969.

She made over 117 films in the mere thirty years of her stardom before she retired in 1984, aged 50.

In 2017, Shadia passed away at Cairo's Galaa Military Hospital at the age of 86 after a long struggle with illness and after suffering a recent stroke.