Remembering Hend Rustom on Her 13th Death Anniv.

Today is the 13th anniversary of the passing of the talented Egyptian actress, Hend Rustom. She was a celebrated and highly-paid star of her time.

Born into a wealthy Turkish family on November 12th, Rustom was a unique and exceptional actress in Egyptian cinema. Throughout her 20-year career, she acted in hundreds of films and captured the hearts of countless fans with her performances and charming looks.

In the 1950s, director Hassan Al-Imam was searching for a young woman with aristocratic features to play the lead role in "Flowers and Thorns." Rustom caught his eye with her Turkish features and beauty that met the standards of the time.

Her looks were particularly suited for playing the roles of poor and helpless girls in the melodramas that dominated cinema before the July 1952 Revolution. Al-Imam saw her as the perfect leading lady for tragic and dramatic roles.

Thus, he selected Rustom to play the main character in "Prostitutes," "The Body," and "A Wife's Confessions," elevating her from a supporting actress to a lead actress. Her exceptional performance led to her playing the lead role in seventeen films in 1957 and 1958 alone, and she went on to star in a total of eighty-six films throughout her career, as stated by Egyptian Media.

She seamlessly adapted to different environments despite being born into an aristocratic family. In films such as "Cairo Station" and "Ismail Yassin in the Madhouse" (both from 1958), she convincingly portrayed low-class young women. She also played a country girl in "Conflict in the Nile" (1959) and a young aristocrat in "I Can't Sleep" (1957) and "A Husband's Confessions" (1964).

She is well known for her notable works, such as “Cairo Station,” directed by Youssef Chahine, and “Ismail Yassin in the Madhouse” by Isa Karama (both in 1958), or as a country girl in “Conflict in the Nile” (1959) by Atef Salem, or a young aristocrat as in “I Can’t Sleep” (1957) by Salah Abu-Seif and “A Husband's Confessions” (1964) by Fateen Abdel-Wahab.

The beautiful actress breathed her last in 2011 and is survived by her husband Dr.Mohamed Faiad, and her only daughter Bassant.