given a royal
memorial service
The memorial service of the late prominent Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki
that took place Monday March 28, 2005 in many ways resembled that
of presidents and royals. Thousands of Egyptians from all around Egypt
came to take part in the ceremony that was packed with security guards
trying to maintain some kind of order.
Government officials (including Egyptian President Husni Mubarak’s
son Mahmoud), several ministers, top artists, businesspeople, farmers,
and people from around the Arab world gathered at Mustafa Mahmoud
mosque to pray over him. The square outside was packed with
mourners who pressed to lay their hands on Zaki's casket for a final
farewell. Almost everyone at the ceremony was dressed in black and
unable to hold back their tears. His body was taken to 6 October City,
outside Cairo, for burial.
The funeral was broadcast live on television in Egypt and across the
Arab world. It was said that the actor had requested that the directors
film the tens of thousands of people who turned out for his funeral to
use as crowd scenes in his final movie (Halim), which tells the story of
the legendary Egyptian singer Abdul Halim Hafez.
Director of the film revealed that the actor wanted to see the film
complete before his death. It was added that Zaki's 21-year-old son
Haitham will film the remaining scenes of Halim, playing Hafez in his
youth.
Zaki is best known for his roles in dramatized documentaries, in which
he played former Egyptian presidents Jamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar
Sadat. The two films of the former presidents played to full houses and
sparked lively national debates, not only about the two leaders’ legacy
but also about the dearth of modern-day Egyptian heroes in an era of
political corruption and economic malaise.
Zaki was the first black actor to play leading roles and picking up the
nickname “the Bronze Star”. Before Zaki, black actors tended to
portray secondary or comic roles. He made his first movie, Children of
Silence, in 1974. By 1980 he had made six films, including Alexandria
... Why? with Egypt’s best known director, Yousef Chahine. Zaki
appeared in more than 60 movies.
He also starred in television serials, among them The Days, in which he
played the renowned blind Egyptian writer and thinker Taha Hussain.
Zaki gained notice with his frail figure, curly hair and dark complexion.
He soon became a representative of every Egyptian, especially in
movies on people living on the edge. Critics, including those who did
not approve of some of his roles, agree that Zaki is a different brand of
actor. He wholeheartedly lived the character he played. This explains
why the public feel related to him.
By Diaa Bekheet
Washington
27 March 2005
Voice Of America
Ahmed Zaki
One of Egypt's leading movie stars, Ahmed Zaki, died of cancer complications Sunday. Mr. Zaki had been suffering
from lung cancer since early last year and had been in a coma for two weeks.
Mr. Zaki was a heavy smoker. When doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer last year, President Hosni Mubarak
offered to send him to France for medical treatment at the government's expense. But, last month Mr. Zaki's health
deteriorated dramatically.
Mr. Zaki impressed audiences by playing comic, romantic and tragic roles for more than 30 years in theater, in
movies and on television. Sunday Egyptian television played highlights of his career and showed rare pictures of him
in a hospital bed.
Ahmed Zaki in 1986 scene from The Innocent, a film that exposed torture of political prisoners and predicted mutiny
of security forces in Egypt . His greatest successes were playing Egypt's presidents in two popular movies that
became landmarks of Arab cinema. He played presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser in
Nasser 56 and Anwar Sadat in The Days of Sadat. He also had plans to play President Hosni Mubarak.
After discovering his illness last year, he continued working on a movie in which he played Egypt's "nightingale"
Abdel Halim Hafez, one of the country's most popular singers. Mr. Zaki only completed about 80 percent of the
movie.
Ahmed Zaki was born in 1949 in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig, about 50 miles north of Cairo. He graduated from
Zagazig's Crafts School in 1967, and then traveled to Cairo to study cinema.
Many of his films, which were written by screenwriter Wahid Hamed, had a political message - roles that exposed
government and police corruption or favored the oppressed and the poor. The roles made him popular in the Arab
world.
President Mubarak granted Mr. Zaki the Merit of Arts award for his work in over 50 movies.
Mr. Zaki's wife, actress Hala Fouad, also died of cancer at the age of 34. They are survived by their only son,
16-year-old Haitham.
Egyptian television announced that Mr. Zaki will be buried in Cairo Monday.
**
Egyptian movie star dies at 55
[Middle East News] CAIRO, March 27 : One of Egypt's top movie stars, Ahmad Zaki, died Sunday at the age of
55 following a 14-month battle with cancer.
Zaki, who acted and starred in 54 films since 1974, died at Dar al-Fuad Hospital in Cairo one week after slipping
into a coma, officials said.
He was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2004, after which he was treated at a Paris hospital before he
returned to Cairo to continue chemotherapy.
Despite his illness, Zaki insisted playing the role of Egypt's late pop singer, Abdul Halim Hafez, in the movie "Halim,
the Voice of the People."
The producers of the film, Good News Productions, said Zaki completed almost his entire role in the movie, except
for the scenes of Hafez's death in 1977.
He was renowned for playing the roles of Egypt's late presidents, Gamal Abdul Nasser in the film "Nasser 1956,"
and Anwar Sadat in "The Days of Sadat."
Zaki was born to a poor family in al-Zakazik, 53 miles (85 kilometers) north of Cairo November 18, 1949.
He is survived by an only son.His wife also died of cancer at the age of 34.
**
Egyptian Actor Ahmed Zaki Dies at 55
By SALAH NASRAWI
Associated Press Writer
Sunday/ March 27, 2005, 11:04 PM EST
CAIRO, Egypt -- Ahmed Zaki, one of Egypt's most acclaimed actors who portrayed former Egyptian presidents
Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, died Sunday. He was 55. Zaki was diagnosed with lung cancer in January
2004. He had been hospitalized since March 8 and suffered a brain hemorrhage almost two weeks later.
A close friend of Zaki's, Gen. Kamel Abdel Halim, and doctors at the Dar el-Fouad Hospital in Sixth of October
City just outside Cairo confirmed he had died Sunday.
Before slipping into a coma earlier this month, Zaki had received calls from President Hosni Mubarak and celebrities
had flocked to his hospital room.
Zaki died before accomplishing one of his dreams -- the making of the film "Halim" about the life of the celebrated
Egyptian singer and heart throb, Abdel Halim Hafiz.
The producer of "Halim," Imad el-Din Adeeb, said Sunday that Zaki insisted on leaving his hospital bed to take part
in shooting, although "we kept telling him that the decor was not complete and he had to wait."
"He is a great artist of rare talent. Such artists are born only once every 100 years," Adeeb told The Associated
Press.
Zaki's funeral will be held Monday in central Cairo's imposing Mustafa Mahmoud mosque, Adeeb told Egypt's
Middle East News Agency, adding the service will be filmed to be part of the movie.
Director Mohammed Khan, who worked with Zaki on six films, compared him to Hollywood star Robert DeNiro,
saying he had a "natural instinct for acting."
"Even without the technical and other advanced means which Hollywood has, Zaki gave Egyptian film making the
glamour of real art," Khan said.
Khan's last movie with Zaki was 1999's "Days of Sadat," depicting 40 years of the late president's life. Three years
earlier, Zaki had starred in "Nasser 56," a movie that centered on the fateful summer of 1956, when then-president
Nasser thumbed his nose at the West by nationalizing the Suez Canal.
Film critic Tarek Shinawy described Zaki as the yardstick for all other Egyptian actors in the 1980s and the 1990s,
once telling The Associated Press that the quality of his performance was so high that "no director would have
bothered to repeat shots with Zaki. His first shots were always the best."
Zaki was born to a poor family in the Nile delta town of Zagazig on Nov. 18, 1949. He started his professional
career even before he graduated from the Cairo
Higher Institute for Drama Studies in 1974. His first play was Hello Shalbi, a comedy.
Zaki also broke the color barrier in Egyptian cinema when he become the first black actor to play the leading roles
usually reserved for light-skinned Egyptians.
Before Zaki, black actors tended to play secondary or comic roles.
Zaki was briefly married to the late actress Hala Fouad. He is survived by their son, Haitham.