Soad Hosny

Soad Hosny
سعاد حسني

Soad Hosny (1972)
Born Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny

Soad Mohamed Hosny (Arabic:سعاد حسني January 26, 1942 – June 21, 2001) was an Egyptian[1] actress born in the Bulaq district of Cairo.[2] Hosny was known as the "Cinderella of Egyptian cinema" and one of the most influential actresses in the artistic arena. She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991. A majority of her films were shot in the 1960s and 1970s. Her final screen appearance was in the 1991 film The Shepherd and the Women, directed by her ex-husband Ali Badrakhan.

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Career

Hosni started her career at a very young age, through singing Okht El Qamar (Sister of the Moon) in the famous radio children program Baba Sharo. A family friend, Abdel Rahman el-Khamissy (a writer/director) discovered her acting talent and asked an Arabic language teacher at the time to give her singing lessons. Abdel Rahman was screening for the film Hassan We Na’ima, and wanted to present Hosni as his new discovery in the role of Na’ima. The film was produced and directed by Henry Barakat.

Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny Al Baba was born on January 26th, 1943 in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt. She was the 10th sibling of 17 brothers and sisters. Souad was known as the "Cinderella" of Arab cinema and one of the most influential actresses in the Arabic art world. She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991. A majority of her films were shot in the 1960s and 1970s. Some famous include "Saghira El Hob," "Khally Balek Min ZouZou," and many more! And, in many of her films she acted alongside many famous faces like Hussein Fahmy, Roshdy Abaza, the late belly-dancing legend Taheya Karioka, Nadia Lutfi Nadia Lutfi. Souad was also infamous for her love affairs and many marriages which always ended in failure and divorce. Sadly, on June 21, 2001, she fell from a window from her best friend's London flat and died. Ironically, the same day as Abdel Halim Hafez's birthday, someone she loved.

Her final screen appearance was 10 years before in 1991, with the movie "Al Ra'i We El Nissa." To this day, she goes down as one of the most legendary and most classically beautiful actresses in Middle Eastern history.

Notable family members

- Soad Hosny's birth certificate[2] shows that both of her parents were Egyptian citizens.


Marriages

Soad Hosni was married four times. She was rumored to be married to renowned great Egyptian musician Abdel Halim Hafez for an unknown period of time (6 years were proposed).But there is no proof of this, though they were close friends. In ~1968, she was married to cinematographer Salah Kurayyem; the marriage lasted for approximately one year. In 1970, Soad Hosni was married to film director Ali Badrakhan; this marriage lasted for approximately eleven years. She was married to Zaki Fateen Abdel-Wahab in 1981, the son of Fateen Abdel-Wahab (film director) and Leila Mourad; this marriage lasted only five months. Finally, in 1987, she was married to Salah Awwad, and she died while still married to him.[2]

Death

Hosny died in London, England in 2001. This occurred after she had suffered severely from an unknown illness for five years. Hosny had sought treatment in the UK after sustaining a spinal fracture which had forced her to leave Egypt.

In 2001, she was found on the sidewalk below the building in which she was living; she had fallen from the balcony of her apartment. Courts in England could not decide whether Hosny had committed suicide or had been killed by her care-taker. In 2002, however, British courts decided that the cause of Hosny's death had been a suicide, although substantial evidence suggested she had been murdered. Prosecuters argued that a woman on the verge of suicide would not have been in the right state of mind to cut through steel netting. Also, while one slipper was still on her foot, the other was found in her bathroom suggesting she has been dragged to the balcony. It has been noted that Hosny has recorded her diaries on tape in preparation for the publication of her biography. This is cited as a motive for murder as the tapes went missing after her death and also because they were said to contain material that would have hurt important public figures in Egypt (Zakeria Azmy).

Selected filmography


References

Bibliography

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External links

General Internet Resources

Articles and essays

Media portrayals