Hollywood's Dr Zhivago, Omar Sharif is dead

At home essaying idealistic Russian revolutionaries, German soldiers, Mongol conquerors and Arab tribal chiefs onscreen, Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif, who came into the limelight with his part in David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and the lead role in "Doctor Zhivago", died on Friday, reports said. He was 83.

The cause of death was cardiac arrest.

"He suffered a heart attack this afternoon in a hospital in Cairo," BBC quoted his agent Steve Kenis as saying.

Born Michel Demetri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932 in a Catholic family of Lebanese descent, Sharif started his career in Egyptian films in 1953 with "Sira Fi al-Wadi" ("The Blazing Sun") opposite leading actress Faten Hamama, whom he married in 1954 after converting to Islam.

He worked in over 20 films before being approached for the role of Sharif Ali in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) which was his first Hollywood movie.

As Sharif Ali, who silently glides from the dunes early in the movie and kills Lawrence's guide for drinking from his well before taunting him "Have you no fear, English?", Sharif more than held his own against a star-studded cast which included Peter O'Toole as Lawrence, Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal, Anthony Quinn as Auda and Claude Rains as Dryden.

He was nominated for the Oscars but didn't win though. Later, he received two Golden Globe awards for his role.

His most famous work was as the title role of the tormented poet in Lean's 1965 adapation of Boris Pasternak's "Doctor Zhivago", opposite Julie Christie as Larissa 'Lara' Antipova. Sharif again held his own in another star-studded cast which also included Alec Guinness, Geraldine Chaplin and Rod Steiger.

He again did not win any of the five Oscars the film garnered for its epic cinematography and haunting music, especially "Lara's Theme", by Maurice Jarre but won a further Golden Globe three years later.

Among other major roles of the multi-lingual Sharif, who was comfortable in any cultural and historic setting, were as iconic revolutionary Che Guevara in "Che", a German officer trying to trace a psychopathic murderer among the top brass in "The Night of the Generals", in "The Fall of the Roman Empire", as Genghis Khan in an eponymous film, the villain Colorado in Gregory Peck-starrer western treasure hunt "Mackenna's Gold", and a Soviet spy in Cold War drama "The Tamarind Seed".

However, his increasing presence in Hollywood and European films cast a shadow on his marriage to Faten, despite birth of a son Tarek, and they amicably divorced in 1974. Faten died in January this year.

On TV, Sharif essayed the role of doomed Czar Nicholas II in mini series "Anastasia", Pashtun horseman Khuda Daad in an adaption of M.M.Kaye's "The Far Pavillions" and of Captain Nemo in one based on Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island".

Sharif, who was a devoted bridge player and authored several books on the card game, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2012.