Leila Mourad
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Leila Mourad (Arabic:ليلى مراد) (February 17, 1918- November 21, 1995) was an Egyptian singer and actress. She is also credited as "Laila Mourad" and "Layla Mourad".[1]
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[edit] Life
She was born in Al Zaher in Abbasia, Cairo in February 1917 to a Jewish Iraqi father, Ibrahim Zaki Mordachi, a famous singer and musician in the twenties, and to a Jewish Polish mother, Gamilah “Salmon” who gave birth to Mourad, Ibrahim, Malak, Mounir and Samihah. Her brother Mounir Mourad was an Egyptian actor.
Dawoud Housni helped her start her career by composing her first song. However, her true discovery was when the prominent Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab heard her singing and gave her a role in his film Yahia el Hob in 1938. She converted to Islam before beginning her career in show-business, changing her name to Leila Mourad. Many of her family members followed suit.
A rumor that she visited Israel and donated money there, placed her as a suspect of spying and made some Arab radio stations boycott her. She denied these allegations and she was called in judicially and investigations declared her innocent. She was given a certificate of appreciation from the Egyptian Armed Forces in October 1952. Leila Mourad gave up acting and singing by the end of the 1950s with a legacy of 1200 songs. She died in a hospital in Cairo in 1995.
[edit] Marriages
Mourad married Anwar Wagdi (1945-1953) and converted to Islam after marriage. They got separated and got back together 3 times. After the third divorce from Wagdi, Laila married the Egyptian major Muhammad Wagih Abaza, officer of the Revolution’s Council of Leadership. He is a descendant of the well-renowned Abaza family . He was assigned to conduct the investigations with her, she had Ashraf by him, and later got divorced. Then she married the producer Fateen Abdul Wahab where she gave birth to her son Zaki Fattin Abdul Wahab and they were divorced in 1969.
[edit] Works
Her famous songs include:
- "Ya msafer we nassi hawak"
- "Albi dalleli"
- "leeh khaletni ahebak"
- "Elmaya we el hawa"
- "Ya aaz mn Ainy"
- "Sanaten wana ahayel feek"
- "Etmakhtary".
- "El Hob Gameel".
- "Monaya fi Korbak"
- "Abgad Hawaz".
- "Einy Betref", a duet with the Egyptian actor "Naguib AlRaihani".
Her movies include:
- Sayedat al-Qitar (Lady on the Train), 1953.
- Ward el gharam (Flowers of Love), 1952.
- Ghazal Al Banat (Flirtation of Girls), 1949.
- El Hawa wa el chabab (Love and Youth), 1948.
- Darbet el kadar (The Blow of Fate), 1947.
- Qalbi dalili (My Heart is my guide), 1947.
- Khatem Suleiman (Solomon's Ring), 1947.
- Leila bint el agnia (Leila, Daughter of the Rich), 1947.
- Leila bint el fukara (Leila, Daughter of the Poor), 1946.
- El Madi el maghoul (The Forgotten Past), 1946.
- Shadia al wadi (The Singer in the Valley), 1946.
- Leila fil zalam (Leila in the Shadows), 1944.
- Leila, bint al-madaress (Leila, the Schoolgirl), 1942.
- Laila, ghadet el camelia (Leila, Lady of the Camelias), 1942.
- Shuhaddaa el gharam (Romeo and Juliet), 1942.
- Leila, bint el rif (Leila, the Girl from the Country), 1941.
- Laila momtera (Stormy Night), 1940.
- Tahya el hub (Long Live Love), 1938.
