Remembering Mahmoud Morsi on His 17th Death Anniv.

Today marks the 17th death anniversary of Mahmoud Morsi — best known for playing the role of Atries in 'Sheia Mn Khof.'

He can’t be viewed as an actor who only succeeded in presenting the villain character in Egyptian cinema.

Born in 1923, he earned his degree from the Art faculty  at Alexandria University.

Following his passion, he traveled to France to study film directing and spent five years there, then moved to Britain to work in The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) until the tripartite aggression against Egypt in the 1950s.

At that time, Morsi decided to quit and resign from his job and returned to Egypt to work on the Egyptian radio and then on the Egyptian television.

He made his showbiz debut in I am the Fugitive (1962, Niazi Mostafa) and ended his run with The Sword’s Blade (1986, Atef Salem). Actually, he was endowed with a special style of performing these roles that distinguished him from others.

His breakthrough came with (A Song on the Corridor 1972) as Ali Abdel-Khalelk, who was an Egyptian soldier defending his position until his last breath during the 1967 war.

Throughout the 1960s and beyond, Morsi continued to play the villain in his own style. At that time, he managed to embody the character of curl person in (Prince of Cunningness, 1964, directed by Henri Barakat, (The Price of Freedom, 1964, Nour El-Demerdash), (Dawn of Islam, 1971, by Salah Abu-Seif), and (Night and Rods, 1973, Ashraf Fahmi).

Then he shifted from evil to good roles as he presented the idealistic character in the 80s films like (The Sad Night-Bird) and to name a few, according to Maspero Zaman.

In his final years, the late actor tried to break the villain or strongman mold by playing human and benevolent roles, perhaps the most prominent of which in Abu-Ela Al-Bishry (1985, Mohammed Fadel) and in The Family (1994, Ismail Abdel-Hafez).

Unfortunately, the remarkable actor passed away on 24th April 2004.