‘Lawrence of Arabia’ star Omar Sharif is battling Alzheimer’s
No additional details were provided about the 83-year-old or his care. His son, Tarek Sharif, revealed the diagnosis in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
“He still knows he’s a famous actor. The loss of memory affects above all specific things, details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film,” Tarek Sharif said.
“He remembers, for example, that it was Doctor Zhivago but he’s forgotten when it was filmed.
“He can talk about the film but he forgets its name or he calls it something else instead, like Lawrence of Arabia.”
“It’s difficult to determine what stage it’s at. It’s obvious he’ll never improve and it will get worse.
“There are times of the day when he’s better and others in which he feels confused.
“He knows who he is but not necessarily the reason people greet him. When someone sees him in the street and approaches him, he often thinks it’s someone he used to know whose name and face he’s forgotten when most of the time it’s just a fan.”
The Egyptian-born Sharif rose to international stardom with his role in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia — Sharif’s first English-language film.
He earned an Oscar nomination for his turn as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s iconic film opposite Peter O’Toole.
Sharif followed the breakthrough performance with the title role in Lean’s Doctor Zhivago.
He then played Fanny Brice’s husband, Nicky Arnstein, in Funny Girl alongside Barbra Streisand.
His last completed feature film credits were in 2013 in the French-Moroccan film Rock the Casbah.
