Gamil Rateb

Brief Biography

• Name: Gamil Rateb (born Gamil Abu Bakr Ratib)
• Date of birth: 18 August 1926
• Place of birth: Cairo, Egypt
• Date of death: 19 September 2018
• Profession: Egyptian actor
• Years active: from 1946 until his death in 2018
• Standing: a prominent Egyptian actor active in both Egyptian and French cinema, known for authoritative roles

Early Life and Beginnings

• He was born in Cairo to a wealthy, conservative family; his mother was a niece of the feminist activist Huda Sha'arawi.
• He finished his secondary education in Egypt and enrolled at the French Law School, then travelled to Paris, where the writer André Gide advised him to study theatre.

Career

• He made his Egyptian film debut in «Ana al-Sharq» (1946), then moved to Paris to develop his stage career, amassing about 67 Egyptian films alongside French and Tunisian-French productions.
• His international standing was secured by David Lean's «Lawrence of Arabia» (1962); he also directed Egyptian theatre, including Tawfiq Al-Hakim's «Shahrazad».

Selected Works

• Ana al-Sharq (1946)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Kafr Ni'mat (1978)
• Things That Cannot Be Sold (1983)
• Afareet al-asphalt (1996)
• Dameer Abla Hekmat

Artistic Style

• Sharp features and a commanding presence made him sought after for powerful and villainous roles in both Egyptian and French cinema.

Awards and Recognition

• He was decorated with France's Legion of Honour and honoured at the Cairo International Film Festival in 2005 and at several Arab and international festivals.

Personal Life

• He held dual Egyptian and French citizenship and married a French actress who later became director of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Passing

• He died in 2018 in Cairo, aged 92, having lost his voice in his final years to an age-related illness.