What Was Omar Sharif’s Net Worth?

Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor and writer who had a net worth of $2 million at the time of his death in 2015. Towards the end of his life, Omar reportedly experienced serious financial problems. Rumors circulated in 2014 that he was nearly bankrupt. Omar’s representatives denied these rumors.

Omar Sharif had over 100 acting credits to his name, and he earned an Academy Award nomination and two Golden Globe Awards for his performance in the 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia.” He won his third Golden Globe for the 1965 film “Doctor Zhivago.” Sharif’s debut film roles came in “Devil of the Sahara” and “Siraa Fil-Wadi” in 1954, and he went on to appear in films such as “Genghis Khan” (1965), “More Than a Miracle” (1967), “Funny Girl” (1968), “Top Secret!” (1984), “War in the Land of Egypt” (1991), “Monsieur Ibrahim” (2003), “Hidalgo” (2004), and “Hassan & Marcus” (2008). He also voiced Aslan in the Italian dub of 2005’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and starred in many TV movies or miniseries, including “The Mysterious Island” (1973), “Peter the Great” (1986), “Catherine the Great” (1995), “Gulliver’s Travels” (1996), “The Ten Commandments” (2006), and “The Last Templar” (2008).

Omar wrote the 2009 film “Road to Las Vegas,” and as one of the top bridge players in the world, he wrote or co-wrote several books about the game. He was awarded the inaugural Sergei Eisenstein Medal from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 2005. Sharif was honored with Egypt’s Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, and he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour by France and a Commander of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite by Morocco. Towards the end of his life, Omar reportedly experienced serious financial problems. Rumors circulated in 2014 that he was nearly bankrupt, but his representatives denied these rumors. Omar Sharif died of a heart attack on July 10, 2015, at the age of 83.

Early Life

Omar Sharif was born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932, in Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt. He was from a Melkite Greek Catholic family, and he had Syrian ancestry. After he was cast in the film “The Blazing Sun,” Omar changed his surname to Sharif, which means “noble” in Arabic. His father, Yusef Chalhoub, was a precious woods merchant, and his mother, Claire Saada, was a society hostess. The family moved to Cairo when Omar was four years old. Before the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, King Farouk was a frequent visitor to the Chalhoub home. Sharif attended Victoria College, Alexandria, then he earned a degree in physics and mathematics from Cairo University.

Career

Sharif’s acting career began in Egypt, where he appeared in the films “The Blazing Sun” (1954), “The Devil of the Desert” (1954), “Our Beautiful Days” (1955), the French film “The Lebanese Mission” (1956), “Struggle in the Pier” (1956), “Sleepless” (1957), “Land of Peace” (1957), the Tunisian film “Goha” (1958), “Sayyidat al-Qasr” (1958), “Struggle on the Nile” (1959), “A Beginning and an End” (1960), “A Rumor of Love” (1960), “The River of Love” (1960), and “There is a Man in our House” (1962). In 1962, Omar starred as Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish in “Lawrence of Arabia,” which earned him two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award nomination. Next, he appeared in the films “The Fall of the Roman Empire” (1964), “Behold a Pale Horse” (1964), “Marco the Magnificent” (1965), “The Night of the Generals” (1967), and “More Than a Miracle” (1967), portrayed the title roles in “Genghis Khan” (1965) and “Che!” (1969), and won a Golden Globe for “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), in which he played Dr. Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago. He also starred as Nicky Arnstein in 1968’s “Funny Girl” and 1975’s “Funny Lady” alongside Barbra Streisand. In the 1970s, Sharif starred in films such as “The Last Valley” (1971), “The Horsemen” (1971), “Juggernaut” (1974), “Ashanti: Land of No Mercy” (1979), and “Bloodline” (1979), and in 1973, he played Captain Nemo in the miniseries “The Mysterious Island.”

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Sharif starred in a dozen feature films in the ’80s, including “S*H*E” (1980), “The Baltimore Bullet” (1980), “Green Ice” (1981), “Ayoub” (1983), “Top Secret!” (1984), “Grand Larceny” (1987), “The Possessed” (1988), and “The Puppeteer” (1989). He also appeared in the TV movie “Pleasure Palace” (1980) and played Prince Feodor Romodanovsky in the Emmy-winning NBC miniseries “Peter the Great” (1986) and Czar Nicholas II in the American-Austrian-Italian miniseries “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (1986). Next, Omar starred in films such as “The Rainbow Thief” (1990), “War in the Land of Egypt” (1991), “Beyond Justice” (1992), “Heaven Before I Die” (1997), “The 13th Warrior” (1999), “Hidalgo” (2004), “One Night with the King” (2006), “The Crown Prince” (2006), and “Hassan & Marcus” (2008), and he received critical acclaim for 2003’s “Monsieur Ibrahim.” He appeared in the TV movies “Memories of Midnight” (1991), “Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris” (1992), “Catherine the Great” (1995), and “Shaka Zulu: The Citadel” (2001) and the miniseries “Gulliver’s Travels” (1996), “The Ten Commandments” (2006), and “The Last Templar” (2008), and he starred in the title role in the 2005 TV movie “Imperium: Saint Peter.” Sharif played Raouf in the 2007 Egyptian TV series “Hanan W Haneen,” then he appeared in the 2013 films “A Castle in Italy” and “Rock the Casbah.” His final film was 2015’s “1001 Inventions and the World of Ibn Al-Haytham.”

Personal Life

In 1954, Omar fell in love with his “Struggle in the Valley” co-star Faten Hamama, and he converted to Islam before marrying her on February 5, 1955. The couple welcomed a son, Tarek, in 1957, and he played young Yuri in “Doctor Zhivago.” Sharif and Hamama separated in 1966, and their divorce was finalized in 1974. Omar was romantically involved with Barbra Streisand during the filming of “Funny Girl” in 1967, and after their affair was made public in the press, the Egyptian government almost withdrew Sharif’s Egyptian citizenship due to Streisand being Jewish and a supporter of Israel (which was at war with Egypt at the time). On the topic of religion, Omar told ABC Australia in 2004, “I believe in everything and nothing, I don’t disbelieve in anything, everything is possible, as far as my brain tells me, I don’t believe, because I believe that God is Justice. The first thing I learned in Catholicism is that God is Justice, and I can’t see justice in the world.”

Health Problems and Death

In 1992, Omar underwent triple heart bypass surgery, and up until that point, he had smoked 25 cigarettes per day. He gave up smoking after the operation. In 1994, Sharif had a mild heart attack. In the spring of 2015, it was reported that Omar had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. On July 10, 2015, he passed away at a Cairo hospital at the age of 83 after suffering a heart attack. Sharif’s funeral took place two days later at Cairo’s Grand Mosque of Mushir Tantawi, and an Egyptian flag was draped over his coffin. He was laid to rest at the El-Sayeda Nafisa cemetery.

Awards and Nominations

In 1963, Sharif received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “Lawrence of Arabia.” The film also earned him Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Newcomer – Male and a Laurel Award nomination for Top Male Supporting Performance. Omar won his third Golden Globe in 1966, for Best Actor – Drama for “Doctor Zhivago.” He also received a Laurel Award nomination for the film. In 1969, he won a Bambi Award for Best Actor – International for “More Than a Miracle.” For “Monsieur Ibrahim,” Sharif won a César Award (France) for Best Actor (Meilleur acteur) as well as two awards at the 2003 Venice Film Festival: the Audience Award for Best Actor and the Golden Lion. Omar also received a Capri Legend Award from Capri, Hollywood (2003), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Dubai International Film Festival (2004), a Jules Verne Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jules Verne Awards (2005), an Actor’s Mission Award from the Art Film Festival (2008), and an Almería Tierra de Cine Award from the Almería International Film Festival (2012).