Omar Sharif Net Worth

Omar Sharif's Quotes

• I definitely want to do more theatre now. Or, two weeks in a film for a remarkable amount of money.
• I'd rather be playing bridge than making a bad movie.
• It made me the hero of the whole of France. To head-butt a cop is the dream of every Frenchman.
• Aggressive feminists scare me.
• [on Peter O'Toole] The very prototype of the ham.

Interesting Facts about Omar Sharif

1. Of Lebanese/Syrian descent, he resided in Egypt most of his life. Fluent in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian and Spanish, he graduated from Cairo University in 1963 with a joint degree in mathematics and physics. He wanted to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) but, shortly before he was to travel to London, a producer saw him and offered him the leading role in Siraa Fil-Wadi (1954), Sharif's first film.
2. A world-class bridge player, he was known to anticipate or postpone shootings in order to be able to attend major bridge events. He authored and co-authored several books and a weekly syndicated column on the game of bridge and licensed his name to a bridge computer game.
3. Underwent triple bypass surgery (1992), and suffered a mild heart attack (1994). Until his bypass, Sharif smoked 100 cigarettes a day; he quit easily after the operation.
4. Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1990.
5. Ordered by a US court in Beverly Hills, California to take an anger management course for punching a parking attendant who refused to accept his European currency on 11 June 2005. Sharif was not present for the hearing (13 February 2007).
6. As of 2009, he is only one of six performers who won a Golden Globe Award as Best Lead Actor/Actress in a Motion Picture Drama without being nominated for an Oscar for that same role (his for Doctor Zhivago (1965)). The others are Spencer Tracy in The Actress (1953), Anthony Franciosa in Career (1959), Shirley MacLaine in Madame Sousatzka (1988), Jim Carrey in The Truman Show (1998) and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008).
7. His autobiography 'L'Éternel Masculin" was published in France in 1976 and in America the following year as "The Eternal Male".
8. In 1969, Sharif was named to star in a musical biography on Rudolph Valentino that director Mike Frankovich was preparing but which did not materialize.
9. Received one-month suspended prison sentence for striking a police officer in a suburban-Paris casino in July 2003. Was also fined $1,700 and ordered to pay the officer $340 in damages, for insulting and then head-butting the Pontoise policeman, who tried to intervene in an argument between the actor and a roulette croupier. [August 2003]
10. Sharif stated in an interview on Egyptian television that his former wife, Faten Hamamah, the only woman he ever married, was his only true love. He was the father of Tarek Sharif and grandfather of Omar Sharif Jr..
11. Was close friends with Peter O'Toole, who nicknamed him "Freddy" on the set of Lawrence of Arabia (1962), because "no one could possibly be called Omar Sharif".
12. Born the same day as Delphine Seyrig.
13. When Omar Sharif signed on with Sam Spiegel to do Lawrence of Arabia (1962), it was a seven picture deal at $15,000 per film, which the producer convinced him was the standard rate at the time. The others were Doctor Zhivago (1965), Behold a Pale Horse (1964), The Night of the Generals (1967), Genghis Khan (1965), Mackenna's Gold (1969) and Funny Girl (1968).
14. Served in Egypt's militia during the 1956 Suez crisis but considered the idea of actually using his rifle absurd as the enemy would simply level the apartment block he lived in with their return fire. Was later interviewed by British chat show host Michael Parkinson who had served with the British Army on the other side of the conflict, the pair comparing their memories of the events.
15. In an interview (sometime between 2007-09) in his native Egypt that he considered Che! (1969) to be one of his worst movies.
16. Bollywood movie star Dilip Kumar was initially offered the role of Sherif Ali. He declined the role after which David Lean offered it to Omar Sharif which subsequently catapulted him onto the world scene. Sharif was supposed to play the role of Tafas who is shot by Sherif Ali in his introductory desert sequence.
17. His Egyptian citizenship was almost withdrawn by the Nasser regime because of his public affair with Jewish actress Barbra Streisand, who was strongly supporting Israel in its Six Day War against Egypt.
18. The first time he went to the United States was for the film premiere of Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The night before the opening Peter O'Toole took him to see Lenny Bruce in a show, after which they went backstage to see Bruce then went out for drinks. After a while Bruce said he had to go home for a few minutes so they accompanied him. While Bruce was giving himself a drug injection the police broke in and arrested them all. At the police station , Sharif asked to make a phone call and rang producer Sam Spiegel who eventually managed to get them released.
19. Had appeared with James Mason in four films: The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Genghis Khan (1965), Mayerling (1968) and Bloodline (1979).
20. Had appeared with Anthony Quayle four films: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Mackenna's Gold (1969) and The Tamarind Seed (1974).