EGYPT: THOUSANDS OF MOURNERS GATHER IN CAIRO FOR FUNERAL OF ONE OF EGYPT'S BEST-LOVED FILM ACTORS AHMED ZAKI

Record ID: 647771

  • Title: EGYPT: THOUSANDS OF MOURNERS GATHER IN CAIRO FOR FUNERAL OF ONE OF EGYPT'S BEST-LOVED FILM ACTORS AHMED ZAKI
  • Date: 28th March 2005
  • Summary: (BN11) CAIRO, EGYPT (MARCH 28, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WS: SECURITY ARRIVING 0.07 2. MV: COFFIN OF FAMOUS ACTOR AHMED ZAKI BEING CARRIED FROM MOSTAFA MAHMOUD MOSQUE 0.28 3. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING COFFIN TO CAR (2 SHOTS) 1.06 4. SLV: CAR LEAVING THE AREA AFTER COFFIN IS PUT INSIDE 1.16 5. HAS: WIDE OF FUNERAL PROCESSION IN STREET 1.19 6. EGYPTIAN ACTRESSES AT FUNERAL 1.24 7. SOUNDBITE (English) A FAMOUS EGYPTIAN ACTOR HUSSEIN FAHMY SAYS TO PRESS, "Today we lost a colleague, a friend and a great artist. Ahmed Zaki is one of a kind. He was a dear friend of mine, we worked together in a couple of movies and we kept a very good friendship together. I think we are going to miss him for a very long time to come. 1.46 8. WS: EXTERIOR OF MOSTAFA MAHMOUD MOSQUE BUILDING AND SECURITY SURROUNDING IT 1.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA9HE20OOE861U7GBXW29KS4OYG
  • Story Text: Ahmed Zaki, one of Egypt's most popular cinema
    actors for the past 30 years, has died after a long battle
    with cancer.


    Thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Cairo
    on Monday (March 28) to bid farewell to Ahmed Zaki, one of
    Egypt's best-loved actors, who died this week.

    The screen star, whose films were popular across the
    Arab world, was admitted to a Cairo hospital in early
    March. He fell unconscious last Tuesday (March 22) and died
    on Sunday (March 27) aged 55 after a one-year battle with
    cancer.

    More than 10,000 surrounded the mosque where Zaki's
    funeral was held.

    Mourners, including Egyptian actors and ministers, paid
    tribute to an actor remembered for portraying former
    Egyptian presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat in
    the dramatised documentaries "Nasser 56" and "Days of
    Sadat". He also appeared in comedies and drama.

    During his illness, he continued to work on a film in
    which he portrayed popular Egyptian singer Abdel Halim
    Hafez and he had completed much of the shooting.

    His filmography includes more than 50 films, starting
    with Abna el-Samt (the Children of Silence) in 1974.

    Early successes included Shafika and Metwalli in 1978
    and Iskandaria Leh (Alexandria Why) in the same year, under
    the direction of Youssef Chahine.

    Zaki won universal praise from critics for his ability
    to assume the identity of a wide range of characters.

    News that Zaki was in bad health emerged in early 2004,
    when local newspapers reported he had travelled to France
    to receive treatment for a lung infection. President Hosni
    Mubarak was reported to have regularly checked on his
    condition.

    Mubarak presented Zaki a state award in 2001 for his
    well-received portrayal of Sadat, who was assassinated by
    militant Islamists during an army parade in 1981.



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