Remembering Hisham Selim on His 1st Death Anniv.

It has been a year since acclaimed Egyptian actor Hisham Selim passed away at the age of 64, after a long battle with lung cancer.

Born on 27 January 1958, he graduated from the Collége de la Sainte Famille (Jésuites) and the High Institute of Tourism and Hotels in Cairo and then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. His father Salih Selim is the legendary president of the Ahly sporting club.

He made his acting debut, at the age of 12, in Hussein Kamal’s 1972 "Embratoriyet Meim" (Empire M), starring the great actor Ahmed Mazhar.

In this film, Selim plays the Lady of the Arab Screen Faten Hamama’s teenage son, who steals his mother’s cigarettes and has his first kiss with the domestic help at a friend’s house.

He also collaborated with Hamama again in Said Marzouk’s iconic film "Orydo Halan" (I Want a Solution, 1975), which raised the issue of a woman’s right to divorce and led to changes in the personal status law.

Selim also starred in Youssef Chahine’s "Awdet Al-Ibn Al-Daal" (The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1976), alongside Lebanese singer Majida El Roumi, Mahmoud Al-Meleigi, Shokri Sarhan, Hoda Sultan, and Soheir Al-Morshedy.

The acclaimed actor also starred alongside the late Omar Sharif in Hany Lasheen’s "Al-Aragouz" (The Puppeteer, 1989), along with Mervat Amin, Ahmed Khalil, and Salwa Khatab.

His breakthrough came in "Tazwir fi Awraq Rasmiya" (Forgery of Official Documents, 1984), featuring Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Mervat Amin, Iman Al-Bahr Darwish and Mushira Ismail, and played the role of Hisham Anis in "Al-Rayya Al-Baydaa" (The White Flag, 1988) – the story of a conflict between a female fishmonger turned tycoon and a former diplomat in Alexandria – written Okasha and directed by Mohamed Fadel, starring alongside Sanaa Gamil, Gamil Rateb and Somaya Al-Alfi.

Later on, in 1994, he starred in the well-known TV series "Arabisk" (Arabesque: The Days of Hassan Al-Noamany), which was written by Okasha and directed by Gamal Abdel-Hamid. The cast included Salah Al-Saadani, Hoda Sultan, Soheir Al-Morshedy, and Hassan Hosny. 

The series revolves around the challenges of Hassan, who owns an arabesque workshop in a disadvantaged area, as well as those experienced by his family and neighbors on a daily basis.

In the late 1990s, Selim starred in a number of notable Ramadan television series like "Hawanem Garden" City (Garden City Ladies, 1997-1998), directed by Ahmed Sakr featuring a huge number of stars like Hussein Fahmy, Safeya Al-Emari, Abla Kamel, Madiha Youssry and others, as well as "Imra’a min Zaman Al-Hob" (A Woman from the Time of Love, 1998), another Okasha-Abdel-Hafez collaboration starring Samira Ahmed, Ahmed Khalil, Karim Abdel-Aziz, Abla Kamel and Shwikar.