Today marks Zaki Rostom’s 49th death anniversary

Egypt's cinema is commemorating the death anniversary of late Egyptian iconic actor Zaki Rostom who was born on March 5, 1903.

Today, Feb.16 marks the 48th anniversary of his death at the age of 69 after a struggle with heart disease.

A lot of Egyptian and Arab audiences now would only remember the late veteran actor Rostom by always being the villain in white and black films.

Such as a powerful brutal landlord in Youssef Chahine's "Struggle in the Valley" (1954), a bully merchant opposite Farid Shawki in The Tough (1957), and a sneaky drug lord in Pier No. 5 (1957).

Actually, Rostom was endowed with a special style of performing these kinds of challenging roles that distinguished him from those who made such roles their specialty to the extent that he became the founder of an acting technique emulated by others.

Rostom was born to a very prestigious family in the 1900s. His hobby of acting started when he was a student in the baccalaureate; in 1924 he joined the Egyptian National Theater group and in 1925, he joined the Ramses theater group.

Moreover, Rostom was a successful athlete who came second in the national weightlifting competition in 1923.

His conservative father was appointed minister in the era of Khepe Ismail and he died when Zaki was still a young boy.

According to Elcinema.com, Rostom, who was very fluent in English, was offered a leading role in a global movie by Colombia Productions. 

As Rostom got older, he began to lose his hearing bit by bit until he went completely deaf in 1968. This led him to retire from his beloved acting career, as he was left without a choice.

Despite being viewed as an actor who only succeeded in playing the villain in Egyptian cinema, he was able to play other roles that he played with competence, including the roles of the patrician Pasha to the compassionate father, employee, lawyer, and cruel husband.

He is well-known for some of his seminal works, such as Faten Hamama’s “Nahr El Hob“, Omar El Sherif’s “Seraa Fel Wady” and “Raseef Nemra 5“. However, the late maven actor also played other important roles where he wasn’t the bad guy.

In his final years, Rostom tried to break the villain or strongman mold by playing human and benevolent roles, perhaps the most prominent of which was a kind-hearted father in “Ana We Banaaty", Me and my daughters.