Soad Hosny

Soad Hosny
Soad Hosny (1972)
Native name	سعاد حسني
Born	Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny (1942-01-26)January 26, 1942 Ataba, Cairo, Egypt
Died	June 21, 2001(2001-06-21) (aged 59) London, England, United Kingdom

Soad Hosny (Egyptian Arabic:سعاد حسني January 26, 1942 – June 21, 2001) was an Egyptian actress and singer born in the Bulaq district of Cairo.^[1] Hosny was known as the "Cinderella of Egyptian cinema" and one of the most influential actresses in the Middle East.^[2] She is the sister of the legendary Egyptian singer and actress Nagat El Saghera. She ascended to stardom at 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.^[3]

Early life and career

Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny Al Baba was born on January 26, 1943 in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt. She was the tenth sibling of 17 brothers and sisters.^[3]

In her early films Hosni acted alongside Hussein Fahmy, Rushdi Abaza, Nadia Lutfi and belly dancer Taheyya Kariokka. Hosny was also infamous for her love affairs and many marriages which always ended in failure and divorce. Her final screen appearance was in 1991, with the movie Al Ra'i We El Nissa.^[3]

Personal life

Soad Hosny was married four times.^[4] Around 1968, she was married to cinematographer Salah Kurayyem; the marriage lasted for approximately one year. In 1970, Soad Hosny was married to the Egyptian film director Ali Badrakhan; this marriage lasted for approximately eleven years. She was then married to Zaki Fateen Abdel-Wahab in 1981, the son of Fateen Abdel Wahab (Egyptian film director) and popular Egyptian actress Leila Mourad; this marriage lasted only five months. .^[1]

Death

Hosny died in London, England in 2001,^[4] after having fallen off of the balcony of her apartment; her body was found on the pavement below the building. Courts in England could not initially decide whether Hosny had committed suicide or had been killed by her care-taker, but in 2002, they ruled that the cause of Hosny's death had been a suicide, although substantial evidence suggested she had been murdered. Prosecutors 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 like Zakaria Azmi and Hosni Mubarak.

Filmography

Films

Old novelty film poster of Soad Hosni from the film Amira... Hobi Ana

Series

• (1985) Hekayat Hwa we Heya

Bibliography

• Ashraf Gharib,2001: "Soad Hosni: Al-Hulm Al-Dai' (Soad Hosni: The Lost Dream)"^[5]
• Mohamed Soweid,2004: " Cabaret Suad", Beirut: Dar al-Adab^[6]

References

• Searching for the "Cinderella"
• The cornflake predicament
• Return of Soad

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suad Husni.

External links

• Official website
• Soad Hosny at the Internet Movie Database
• "...Zouzou"
• Egyptian Figures
• El Cinema

Articles and essays

• "رسالة السندريلا إلى الله!" (in Arabic)
• "Souad Hosny dies in London after struggling with disease" (in Arabic)

Media portrayals

• Movies or series featuring actresses portraying Soad Hosny on YouTube