Today Marks Hoda Sultan's 17th Death Anniv.

Today, August 15, marks the 17th death anniversary of legendary star Hoda Sultan, best known for playing motherly roles on the silver screen.

Sultan is regarded as one popular superstar who obtained tremendous success in the late 1960s when she was paired with renowned actor and her late husband Farid Sahwky.

Born on August 15, 1925, in Tanta, she made her screen debut in 1950 in the film The Lady of Beauty "Set El Hosn".

Despite the rejection she faced from breaking into the field, particularly from her father, she succeeded in breaking into Egyptian radio with her first song in 1949.

According to critics, being accepted as an official singer was only the advanced step in fulfilling her huge ambitions. On this basis, she auditioned for a role that was announced by Nahas Studio, who was searching for a new face capable of singing to participate in Bella Donna (1950, Niazi Mostafa), and landed it.

Later, she was once noticed by the director Hassan Al-Imam for her charm and innocence; she was selected to play the role of A Wife from the Street and Men’s Huntress.

Sultan formed one of the best in Egyptian cinema with Farid Shawky, her husband at the time. The couple, the remarkable duet, made nineteen films together, starting with Bella Donna and The Rule of the Powerful.

They had a love story that continued for several years. Shawky was very passionate about her and she loved him so much that she was ready to forgo her singing career.

Sultan, who initially acted in cinema before she shifted to the silver screen, popular filmmakers gave her a prominent role in Ezzeddine Zulfikar’s masterpiece A Woman on the Road.

She embodied the traditional role of the enchanting, helpless girl, but quite differently from other female stars’ performances, which were characterized by total submissiveness and downtrodden.

Sultan created a model of seduction with female actresses in cinema, in the mold of Hollywood’s Marilyn Monroe.

But later, she was successfully able to portray the persona of the typical Egyptian mother bake then.

Throughout her long-standing career, she received a lot of awards, including the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF), and the State award in 1955 “Gaalouny Mogremann.

Sultan gained more recognition for her artistic maturity in such films as The Circus (1968, Atef Salem), Dalal the Egyptian (1970, Hassan Al-Imam), The Choice (1971, Youssef Chahine), and especially in Kamal El-Sheikh’s masterpiece Something in my Heart (1971), which heralded her entrance into roles of motherhood.

She also acted in many TV serials Elwatad and Arabisk in the early 90s.

The gorgeous star was married five times, to Mohamed Naguib, film producer Fouad Algazirly, Lebanese prince Fouad Elatrash, renowned actor Shawky, and Theatrical director Hassan Abdel Salam. Sultan had three children: one daughter with Naguib, and two daughters with Shawky.

Her last work was The Tent Pole (1996, Ahmed El-Nahas), which was adapted from Khairy Shalaby’s novel where she made an indelible performance as Fatma Ta’alba, and Zizinia (1997, Gamal Abdel-Hamid).

The iconic actress and singer passed away from cancer on June 5, 2006, at the age of 80.