EGYPTIAN-BORN film legend Omar Sharif, who died Friday aged 83, captivated audiences worldwide for more than half a century but will forever be remembered as the eponymous “Doctor Zhivago.”

    The winner of two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic “Lawrence of Arabia,” Sharif was known for his debonair style, raffish good looks and often mischievous joie de vivre.

    He died in Cairo of a heart attack, his agent Steve Kenis said in London, after a struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

    Tributes poured in after the news of Sharif’s death, with Hollywood star Antonio Banderas calling him “a great storyteller, a loyal friend and a wise spirit.”

    Sharif began acting in the 1950s and his most high-profile roles were in the 1960s when he won an Oscar nomination for “Lawrence of Arabia” and Golden Globes for the same film and for “Doctor Zhivago.”

    His role in “Lawrence of Arabia” as Sharif Ali, an Arab chief enlisted by Peter O’Toole’s T.E. Lawrence in Britain’s fight against the Turks in World War I, propelled him to stardom, setting the stage for an even higher profile role in David Lean’s subsequent release, “Doctor Zhivago.”

    Sharif played the hero in the epic adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s novel of tortured passions during the Russian Revolution, with his real-life son Tarek playing his younger self.

    The actor, fluent in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian and Spanish, went on to star in many films and television productions, including alongside Barbra Streisand in 1968’s “Funny Girl.”

    (SD-Agencies)