Friday, 10 July 2015

Omar Sharif: Dr Zhivago dies aged 83


Egypt-born Omar Sharif who played the title role in David Lean's 1965 epic epic Doctor Zhivago, has died of a heart attack.  Based on Boris Pasternak's book of the same name, Sharif played the part of Yuri Zhivago - a married physician who falls in love with another woman, Lara.  Their lives are disrupted in the turmoil and upheaval of the Russian Revolution.

Yuri Dolgoruky watches over Yuri Zhivago in the laboratory

For the part of Yuri Zhivago, a Siberian, the actor had to disguise his Egyptian looks with a regime of hair straightening and skin waxing, as well as having to wear a wig to hide a band which pulled back the skin around his eyes to make them look more Slavic.  Sharif won a Golden Globe for this performance, as he did 3 years earlier in David Lean's 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia.

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