Remembering Nour El-Sherif on His Death Anniversary

Today, August 11, marks the death anniversary of Nour El-Sherif, the so-called Master of Drama.

Best known for playing El-Hag Metwali, Abdel Gafour Bora’ay, and Saad Eldaly, El-Sherif's work has inspired generations of actors. The subtle genius of his series and movies has left a distinctive mark on the Arab world.

For instance, he acquired an academic qualification and broad artistic culture that helped him more than the others in making good choices and enhancing his performance altogether.

After graduation, he met director Hassan Iman, who was about to shoot ‘Kasr El Shawk’ (The Palace of Desire) (1967) and decided to cast the young handsome man in this film since he believed in his talent.

His breakthrough was in the late 1960s when he performed a supporting role in “The Palace of Desire,” the screen adaptation of one of the novels in a trilogy by Egyptian Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz.

After that, the remarkable star became one of the Egyptian and Arab world’s top male actors for much of the 1970s and 1980s in the heydays of Egyptian cinema.

El-Sherif featured in a number of hit films, such as (The Wife and the Dog) (Desire), (The Baby Doll Night), (The Yacoubian Building), (I Won’t Live in My Father’s Robes), (Bloody Sunday), and ‘Kasr El Shawk‘.

In 1972, the prominent actor married Egypt’s beautiful actress Poussi and together they had two daughters, Sarah and Mai.

In 2015, the veteran actor and theater director died aged 69 after a long struggle with lung cancer.