Veteran Egyptian Actor Hassan Youssef Dies at 90

Veteran Egyptian actor-director Hassan Youssef— who appeared in nearly 200 films and series over five decades — died Tuesday morning at the age of 90.

Mohamed Youssef, the brother of the late star, announced his death in a Facebook post but did not include details about his cause of death.

"To Allah we belong and to him we shall return, my older brother, the actor Hassan Youssef, passed away a short while ago. May God have mercy on him,” he wrote.

Details regarding the consolation marquee and the funeral have not been revealed yet.

Hassan Youssef Hassan, was born in al-Sayyida Zeinab district in Cairo on April 14, 1934. He graduated from the Faculty of Commerce at Ain Shams University in 1955, and then joined the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts, Acting Department and graduated in 1962.

He also worked as a technical supervisor at the teaching theater at Banha as well as the national theater, where his talents were noticed by Hussein Riad.

Riad introduced Youssef as a new face in the 1959 film “Ana Hora” starring Lobna Abdel Aziz and featuring him in the role of her cousin.

The veteran actor presented more than193 film, TV, and theatrical productions. He wrote three films, directed seven films, and produced two films.

In the sixties, the late star stardom reached its peak and saw him playing the lead role in a number of films with movie stars such as Soad Hosny.

 At that time, Youssef married the actress Lebleba after seven years of marriage and got married for the second time to actress Shams al-Baroudi in 1972.

He turned to directing in the seventies, where he directed seven films, some of which he acted in and most starred al-Baroudi.

Youssef retired from acting in 1990 after performing his role in the film "El Shaqeeqatan" and made his acting comeback in the 2002 TV series "Imam al-Doa", where he played the character of Imam Muhammad Metwally Al-Shaarawy.

After that, he kept his appearances on the small screen, often playing a religious character.

Youssef made his last onscreen appearance in the 2019 TV series "Al-Dhaher". In January 2024, Youssef retired indefinitely from acting following the death of his son, Abdullah, who died drowning in 2023.

He is survived by his wife, Shams al-Baroudi and daughter Nariman, and sons Omar and Mahmoud.