0:00:15 > 0:00:18He was born Michel Chalhoub.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22To his friends, he was always Cairo Fred.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25But to the world, he was Omar Sharif,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28the exotic heart-throb who, in the 1960s,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31became the Rudolph Valentino of his day.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34The surname Sharif means "noble" in Arabic
0:00:34 > 0:00:40and Omar always had about him an air of high-class sophistication.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43On-screen, Hollywood producers tended to cast him
0:00:43 > 0:00:47in any role demanding an attractive foreigner.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Off-screen, the media portrayed him as an international playboy
0:00:51 > 0:00:54who gambled in the world's top casinos
0:00:54 > 0:00:57and swept woman off their feet in glamorous hotels.
0:00:57 > 0:01:03And as we shall see, at times, he didn't do much to fight that image.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07His film career started in Egypt in the 1950s.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10He may have stayed there had it not been for David Lean.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15The great British director cast Omar as Sherif Ali in the 1962
0:01:15 > 0:01:17classic Lawrence of Arabia.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Here, we join him looking back on that pivotal experience with
0:01:21 > 0:01:22Michael Parkinson.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27For Lawrence, we were out, the film, the shooting took a year
0:01:27 > 0:01:32and a half and for about nine months, we were in the desert.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35The nearest road was 150 miles away.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38We were in tents, living in tents,
0:01:38 > 0:01:43and there were convoys of cistern trucks every day bringing water,
0:01:43 > 0:01:48you know, to give to the camels and the horses and the people.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And they put showers on top of trucks, you know,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54they put things where you pulled on a string
0:01:54 > 0:01:57and lots of water fell on to you at the end of the day.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00And it was marvellous for me because it was my first film.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05I had not a lot of experience and the fact that
0:02:05 > 0:02:08when the day's shooting was over, not all the actors went back to their
0:02:08 > 0:02:12homes but all we could do was sit together and have a drink
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and chat out in the desert.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19It meant that I could listen to all these marvellous actors,
0:02:19 > 0:02:26Peter O'Toole and Alec Guinness and Claude Rains and Jack Hawkins,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and they were talking about their work and about the theatre
0:02:29 > 0:02:34and about their experiences and I was like a sponge soaking it all up.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37MEN LAUGH
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Sherif, I caught them. They had tracked us, they were here.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49- I caught them.- Why are you here?
0:02:49 > 0:02:52- Boy!- To serve Lord Aurens, Sherif.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56This is true, Aurens, they do wish it.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58You have been tracking us?
0:02:58 > 0:03:03- You were told to stay.- No, Sherif. Our camel strayed, we followed her.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06She led us here to be Lord Aurens' servants.
0:03:06 > 0:03:07It is the will of Allah.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10- Blasphemy.- Don't do that!
0:03:10 > 0:03:14No, no, Aurens, these are not servants, these are outcasts.
0:03:14 > 0:03:15Parentless.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20- Be warned, they are not suitable. - They sound very suitable.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23You can ride with the baggage.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26These are not servants, these are worshippers.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29- PARKINSON:- I imagine one of the problems out there must have been,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32because it was all about sweeping desert landscapes
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and all that, was in fact keeping it pristine, that desert landscape,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37while there was 1,000 people milling around on it.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Well, yes, it was terrible
0:03:39 > 0:03:46because we had a team actually of 300 men whose job was to hold
0:03:46 > 0:03:51a broom which after every time we did a take on a shot,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55they had to go out and sweep all the tracks on the desert
0:03:55 > 0:03:58from the camera to the horizon, you know.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I mean you were there for all that time, did you ever feel that
0:04:01 > 0:04:03you were really sort of losing touch with the rest of the world?
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Yes, we did.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07As a matter of fact, while we were out there,
0:04:07 > 0:04:14this was in 1961 and '62, we got the newspapers from England
0:04:14 > 0:04:19and we were reading that there was a new thing that was very
0:04:19 > 0:04:24fashionable in all the nightclubs and discotheques and that was the twist.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26And we said, "What's that?"
0:04:26 > 0:04:30And we read that everybody was doing the twist.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32And Peter O'Toole and I said,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35"God, we're going to go back to London and it'd be ridiculous.
0:04:35 > 0:04:40"We'd go to these discotheques and we won't know how to dance."
0:04:40 > 0:04:44So he said, "I know what we'll do, we'll import a teacher."
0:04:44 > 0:04:46LAUGHTER
0:04:46 > 0:04:50So, he arranged it with production
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and out came a gorgeous blonde French girl.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55It would be Peter O'Toole that booked it, yeah.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58LAUGHTER
0:04:58 > 0:04:59And she stayed out.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03She brought this one record, which was a Peppermint something.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Peppermint Twist.- Yes.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07She brought this one LP
0:05:07 > 0:05:12and we had this every evening after shooting, we'd get the bottle of
0:05:12 > 0:05:18whisky out, have a couple of drinks, put the record on and start going...
0:05:18 > 0:05:20LAUGHTER
0:05:20 > 0:05:21..with this girl.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23And then after about two or three weeks,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27this record started going like that cos we'd used so much of it.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30But when we got back to London, we were good.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Lawrence of Arabia didn't just introduce Omar to international
0:05:33 > 0:05:40audiences, it introduced him in the most spectacular way imaginable.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42The scene where Sherif Ali
0:05:42 > 0:05:45and Lawrence first meet is one of cinema's greatest,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49although David Lean himself thought it might have been even better.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52- DAVID LEAN:- Lawrence of Arabia, I don't know if you'll remember,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55I had a scene with Omar, it turns out to be Omar Sharif coming out of
0:05:55 > 0:06:00the desert and he's a mirage and it starts as a sort of wavering shape.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05And it ends up as this man who gets on his camel.
0:06:05 > 0:06:13And I cut that at double the length at one time...
0:06:13 > 0:06:16and then I lost my nerve
0:06:16 > 0:06:20and I cut it in half and I made it all much quicker.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25And when the premiere came, I could've kicked myself
0:06:25 > 0:06:27because as it started,
0:06:27 > 0:06:32as that figure started wavering in the distance, the audience,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36you could hear a pin drop, you know, and they were gripped.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41It was better the first time but it did all right as it was
0:06:41 > 0:06:44but you do learn things years afterwards.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47- Did you not replace it after that and make it long again?- No.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49No, it's done, you've done it.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53That was Lean's strongest memory of the premiere.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Omar was just relieved to be there at all after getting
0:06:56 > 0:06:59into trouble with Peter O'Toole the night before the big opening.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01What was it like when you first went to Hollywood
0:07:01 > 0:07:03because it must have been very alienating?
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Well, my first night, I spent in jail.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08No-one ever found out about it, thank God,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12- because we would have never worked again.- Really?- Yes. We arrived...
0:07:12 > 0:07:16It was a dream, I mean our dream, all the hardships we had in the desert,
0:07:16 > 0:07:22it was over 100 degrees, really, our dream was to arrive in Hollywood.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24We'd never been, either of us.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And finally we made it there the night before the opening
0:07:28 > 0:07:32of Lawrence and the studio gave us a huge limousine in the evening
0:07:32 > 0:07:34and said, "You can go out and have some fun."
0:07:34 > 0:07:38So, we got into this limousine and we went down Sunset Strip.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42And we saw, advertised in a theatre, Lenny Bruce.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45He was a terrific comedian.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47And we said let's go and see him.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51So, we went in there and watched the show and then we went backstage.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54"You were marvellous, we loved you" and we introduced ourselves.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57"You don't know us but we are two actors.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00"Tomorrow, we have the opening of our film. Come and have a drink with us."
0:08:00 > 0:08:04He said, "OK", so we went out, had a few
0:08:04 > 0:08:06and at about 1:00 in the morning,
0:08:06 > 0:08:11he said, "Look, I've got to nip back home for about 15 minutes.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14"Would you like to wait for me here or would you like to come?"
0:08:14 > 0:08:15We said, "We'll come with you."
0:08:15 > 0:08:20So we went back and went to his place and he got this needle
0:08:20 > 0:08:22and put it in his...
0:08:22 > 0:08:23And it was...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Mainlining, whatever they call it.
0:08:27 > 0:08:33And all of a sudden, they broke the door down and in came the police
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and they hauled us all to the police station.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Peter O'Toole being Irish hates the cops anyway.
0:08:39 > 0:08:40LAUGHTER
0:08:40 > 0:08:43And he was very rude to them. He'd had a few drinks.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45- They either hate them or become one.- Yes!
0:08:45 > 0:08:47And he was very rude to them
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and they didn't have much of a sense of a humour, those ones.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59So, they said, "All right, you, inside" and tried to lock us up.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05And I was the most sober of the three and I'd seen a lot of American films,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08I said, "I have the right to make a phone call."
0:09:08 > 0:09:11LAUGHTER
0:09:11 > 0:09:12Yes.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15So I picked up the phone and called the Beverly Hills Hotel where
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Sam Spiegel the producer was staying.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22And it was 4:00 in the morning and I said to the operator,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25"Get me Mr Spiegel." She said, "I can't disturb him at this hour."
0:09:25 > 0:09:27I said, "Please do, it's very urgent."
0:09:27 > 0:09:29And finally, I got him on the phone, he was half-asleep.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33I mean he was so much half-asleep, he said, "Who is this?"
0:09:33 > 0:09:36I said, "It's Omar." He said, "Omar who?"
0:09:36 > 0:09:38I said, "How many Omars do you know?"
0:09:38 > 0:09:41LAUGHTER
0:09:43 > 0:09:45Oh, that Omar, yes.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48I said, "We're in jail." He said, "Who's in jail?!"
0:09:48 > 0:09:53I said, "Peter O'Toole and I." He said, "Where?"
0:09:53 > 0:09:56I said whatever precinct or whatever.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00So half an hour later, he walked in with lots of guys with hats
0:10:00 > 0:10:02and briefcases and had a chat with the cops.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08And then they opened the thing and said, "You two can come out."
0:10:08 > 0:10:13But by this time, Peter was very friendly with Lenny and he said,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"What about him?" They said, "No, he stays cos he had the record."
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Peter said, "I'm not going anywhere without my friend."
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Sam said, "Don't be a child."
0:10:21 > 0:10:24He said, "Don't be a child yourself, you have to get my friend out."
0:10:24 > 0:10:30- So they went back to them and had another chat.- More money?
0:10:30 > 0:10:33That was the first night in Hollywood.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36His performance in Lawrence earned Omar
0:10:36 > 0:10:41a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44He won the Best Actor Golden Globe Award three years later
0:10:44 > 0:10:49for his performance in David Lean's next film, Doctor Zhivago,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51the epic tale of romance
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and revolution in which he played the title role.
0:10:54 > 0:11:01Now, the 64,000 question, of course, was who played Zhivago.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07Now, Zhivago is a very passive part and I think it needs a poet
0:11:07 > 0:11:11and a doctor but the fatal pitfall, I think,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15would've been to cast too much to type.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20If I'd had a very studious young man, I think he'd tend to be a bore
0:11:20 > 0:11:27in the picture and so I thought I will go for immense good looks
0:11:27 > 0:11:32and I thought of Omar because he had played the sheikh in Lawrence who
0:11:32 > 0:11:37came out of the mirage and he's a very sensitive actor
0:11:37 > 0:11:41and we happened to work very well together.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45He catches on and I think it works
0:11:45 > 0:11:51and I thought I could get this Russian poet out of him.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55And I backed that hunch, a lot of people thought I was mad, but
0:11:55 > 0:11:58I don't think I was, I think he'd make a great success in this film.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Omar would claim that he was cast in two David Lean films
0:12:02 > 0:12:06because he was one of the few actors that the director actually liked.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12Was the feeling mutual? This interview would suggest not.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14He's a man who is very easy to hate.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17In other words, it is very easy to hate David
0:12:17 > 0:12:19and very difficult to like him.
0:12:19 > 0:12:26He's a very hard man, a very selfish man, who has no pity for anyone
0:12:26 > 0:12:30and none for himself either which is a very rare thing.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35He has no self-pity and no self-indulgence
0:12:35 > 0:12:39and therefore it is very difficult for him to pity anybody else
0:12:39 > 0:12:43or to feel sorry for anybody, however tired they may be.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45He considers everybody on the set,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49everybody who is helping to make the film,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52as objects rather than as people.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55They are the things that are making his film.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59And, well, you can see how easy it is,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03if you think that he is considering you as an object,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07how easy it is to be terribly unhappy and rather hate him for it.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10I know that I have, at the end of many days' shooting,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12felt terrible hate for him
0:13:12 > 0:13:16and I know, for instance, most of the people who have worked with him
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and who work with him rather dislike him
0:13:19 > 0:13:25because he drives them too hard and he uses them too much.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28Doctor Zhivago was not initially liked by the critics
0:13:28 > 0:13:32but it was a huge financial hit and is now considered amongst Lean's
0:13:32 > 0:13:37finest work and Omar played a key part in one of the scenes
0:13:37 > 0:13:39which Lean took most pride in.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I was very frightened of a scene we had
0:13:43 > 0:13:47in which a whole group of dragoons charge a procession.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50I was frightened of it because I've seen
0:13:50 > 0:13:56so many horsemen charging people and the swords come out,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59you have close-ups of the sword being lifted
0:13:59 > 0:14:02and a close-up of a man with his head being split open,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06falling down in the street, and it's boom, boom, boom, boom.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08And it's a kind of bore.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13And I got the idea, of not showing any of it at all.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18So what I did was this, I had the dragoons charge down the street.
0:14:18 > 0:14:19The people start to run...
0:14:19 > 0:14:21Charge! SHOUTING
0:14:21 > 0:14:24The little incidental isn't the running.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26That is a drum rolling down the street.
0:14:26 > 0:14:27SHOUTING AND SCREAMING
0:14:31 > 0:14:33And then, at the moment...
0:14:33 > 0:14:34that the clash came,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38I cut to a big close-up of Omar Sharif
0:14:38 > 0:14:40and I stayed on him,
0:14:40 > 0:14:44hearing the yells and the cries offstage.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47SCREAMING AND STRUGGLING
0:14:47 > 0:14:49I held it for quite a long time.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And then cut back to the street and there were the bodies lying there.
0:14:54 > 0:14:55Thank goodness it...
0:14:55 > 0:14:58I think, worked.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00If it hadn't worked, I'd have been cooked,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05because I didn't shoot any of that sabre bashing.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08With Lawrence and Zhivago under his belt,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Omar should have had the world at his feet.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Instead, he had the Arab world up in arms.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17The same time as the Israeli-Egyptian Six-Day War,
0:15:17 > 0:15:22publicity photos of him kissing his co-star, Barbra Streisand,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26were released ahead of the 1968 film Funny Girl.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Streisand's Jewish background prompted calls in Egypt
0:15:29 > 0:15:32for Omar's citizenship to be removed
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and, back in Hollywood, many of the film's Jewish backers
0:15:35 > 0:15:37wanted him replaced.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40In the end, he stayed
0:15:40 > 0:15:42and he would have an affair with Streisand
0:15:42 > 0:15:45that lasted for the duration of the film's production.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50The 1960s also saw another film with Peter O'Toole,
0:15:50 > 0:15:52The Night of the Generals.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55And then, in 1969, came Che,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00in which he played Cuba's revolutionary leader, Che Guevara.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05Is it difficult creating the role of a man, who so recently died?
0:16:05 > 0:16:08A man who has a fantastic reputation, in a way?
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Do you find this hard?
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Well, I find it frightening
0:16:12 > 0:16:15and I think it's a great responsibility.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17But...
0:16:17 > 0:16:21I'm fortunate enough, first of all, to look quite a bit like him,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24like he did, which makes it a lot easier,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27because once you look like someone,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29- it's much easier to be him...- Yeah.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34..than if you have to work very hard already at looking and...
0:16:34 > 0:16:37and never succeeding in looking like the person you're playing.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41From some accounts of him, he wasn't a very warm or sympathetic person.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44He was so concerned with the revolution and with politics.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Is this an aspect of Che that you're putting across?
0:16:47 > 0:16:49Yes, he was...he...
0:16:49 > 0:16:53You didn't see very easily who he liked and who he didn't like.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55But, er...
0:16:55 > 0:16:58- He didn't let his hair down, in other words, very often.- Mm-hm.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02He was sort of difficult to approach, difficult to get to.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06And that's why he had such a fascinating personality,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08because people who are like that are...
0:17:09 > 0:17:12- ..attract people to them. - Mystery?- Yes.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16Did you finally come to admire him yourself?
0:17:16 > 0:17:18Yes, but I...
0:17:18 > 0:17:20I would admire anyone I've, you know, portrayed.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23I find it very difficult to dislike someone that I play.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Do you know what I mean?
0:17:25 > 0:17:29I always give him a justification, even if he's doing something wrong.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Despite Omar's good intentions,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Che was a disaster.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36One critic at the time called it,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40"One of the 50 worst films ever made."
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And its reception seemed to coincide
0:17:42 > 0:17:45with Omar falling out of love with acting.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47I was lucky enough to appear with him
0:17:47 > 0:17:50in one of his best received films of the period -
0:17:50 > 0:17:521974's The Tamarind Seed.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Oh, he was so charming.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59And so nice.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00But increasingly,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03he was becoming known for his other passions -
0:18:03 > 0:18:07gambling and the card game bridge,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10at which he was ranked among the best players in the world.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Is playing bridge more important to you than filming?
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Well, it's...
0:18:18 > 0:18:20It's not more important to me,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23but it gives me much more pleasure.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24I mean, obviously filming
0:18:24 > 0:18:26is very important to me,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30because it's what enables me to be able to have hobbies,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32to play bridge,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34to make bridge known,
0:18:34 > 0:18:39because I use actually what I gain in my career to do that.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42And my career is very important to me.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45But as you get older, as it were,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48you look after your pleasure much more
0:18:48 > 0:18:51than you do when you're younger.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And what I'm doing now, bridge is what gives me real pleasure.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58And I'd rather be playing bridge than filming, that's quite true.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01But that's obvious. One always prefers to indulge
0:19:01 > 0:19:04in one's hobby rather than to indulge in one's work.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Of course, as well as bridge playing,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09there was always the Casanova image to play up to,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13which Omar did, with varying degrees of enthusiasm,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17in television appearances like this one from 1977.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21Here in the company of Miss France, Miss Austria, Miss Las Vegas,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Miss Monte Carlo and Miss Nice,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26please give a big welcome to Omar Sharif.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28APPLAUSE
0:19:46 > 0:19:48It's raining out there, as well - you're all wet.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50It's colder than the desert.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Seriously, Omar, I have never met a film star who has managed to
0:19:54 > 0:19:57separate himself so completely and so successfully from all
0:19:57 > 0:20:00the ballyhoo that surrounds the film industry.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03You seem almost to exist on a separate level?
0:20:03 > 0:20:09Yes, fortunately I have passions that allow me to do that.
0:20:09 > 0:20:10I've heard!
0:20:10 > 0:20:12LAUGHTER
0:20:12 > 0:20:13Not those ones!
0:20:14 > 0:20:18No, up to about five years ago, I was working all the time
0:20:18 > 0:20:22and travelling and living in hotels, out of suitcases and all.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27And I felt that I didn't have any private life
0:20:27 > 0:20:29and that I've sort of messed up,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32or missed up, on my life.
0:20:32 > 0:20:33And, erm,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36I didn't have a family, neighbours,
0:20:36 > 0:20:38a club that you go to,
0:20:38 > 0:20:39regular habits.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43I made friends with people for about two months during the shooting
0:20:43 > 0:20:46of a film, and then I had to go and never saw them again.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48So, I woke up one day and I thought,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51"Well, what have I done? Nothing."
0:20:51 > 0:20:54It's all right to have ambition and to want to make your career
0:20:54 > 0:20:56and all, when you're young.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59But after you pass the age of 40,
0:20:59 > 0:21:04you want to have something to show for all the work you've done
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and something to look forward to when you get older.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Well, you certainly make a point of enjoying yourself.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12I mean, you've immersed yourself in, well, horse racing is
0:21:12 > 0:21:16- one of your big passions, of course. - I love the horse. I love animals.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20And I think that the horse is probably, in my opinion,
0:21:20 > 0:21:21the most beautiful animal.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It's a very proud animal and it's gorgeous to look at,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26the way it moves, the way it...
0:21:26 > 0:21:29I've taken up breeding of horses.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31And the breeding is very exciting,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35because you, feel in a way, like a creator,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39because you choose who's going to be dad and who's going to be mum,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42and you marry them, as it were.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44And then, if you succeed one day
0:21:44 > 0:21:49in having a little foal that's going to be a great horse,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51maybe in 300 years from now,
0:21:51 > 0:21:56I would look into pedigree books and see that, not I was there...
0:21:56 > 0:21:58- LAUGHTER - Someone...
0:21:58 > 0:22:02..the world will see the name of a horse that I bred.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05This is the only way I can go to posterity.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09The interviews were now all about Omar, the man about town,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12not about the films he continued to churn out regularly,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14which were, in his own words,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16"mostly rubbish",
0:22:16 > 0:22:18but also done for the pay cheques.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23There was a sense of what might have been about him.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28But in the 1980s, he tried to rekindle a love for acting,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30not on screen, but onstage,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32in Terence Rattigan's
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The Prince And The Showgirl.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36He discusses the play,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39and of course his sex symbol status,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42in this appearance on the Wogan show.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47He said you seduced three girls in three different languages.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49- LAUGHTER - On three separate nights.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Are you denying all knowledge of this?
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Yes, well, I'm...
0:22:53 > 0:22:56LAUGHTER I'm not denying the fact
0:22:56 > 0:22:59that I talked to three different girls.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02We were in India, mind you, there was not much to do there!
0:23:02 > 0:23:05How does the image, that heart-throb image,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07how does it match up with the real person?
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Well, erm,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13everybody knows I've got these extraordinary passions
0:23:13 > 0:23:17for racing horses, for bridge, for cards,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20and for good food and wine.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24And these are passions that don't go too well
0:23:24 > 0:23:26with a passion for girls,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29because when you play bridge or you go racing,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34you don't really want to have a girlfriend with you,
0:23:34 > 0:23:35because it sort of...
0:23:35 > 0:23:38It doesn't help your concentration on what you're doing.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40When you said that you're a passionate man
0:23:40 > 0:23:41and you listed your passions...
0:23:43 > 0:23:46..I don't remember you mentioning acting?
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Well, yes, that is my first and basic passion,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54but what has happened was, in the last few years,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57perhaps I did too much of films.
0:23:57 > 0:23:58And in the last few years,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02I find that the parts have not been interesting,
0:24:02 > 0:24:03the parts that I have been offered.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06And parts I have even worked on,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08have not been interesting.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10They have not challenged me in any way.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14They are all too much on the nose.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15And...
0:24:15 > 0:24:19I remember my passion for acting with...
0:24:21 > 0:24:24..it was very important to me, and I want that to happen again,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27I want to have that enthusiasm again,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29and I think that the theatre will give me that.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Do you involve yourself in what has been called the method style?
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Do you get deeply involved in the motivation?
0:24:36 > 0:24:39No, I don't like very much that.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42I don't particularly like, and perhaps I'm wrong,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44I'm not saying that I'm right in what I like or not,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48but I don't like method actors, in general,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50because I find them so very boring
0:24:50 > 0:24:52and tiresome to work with.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55I'm not speaking of the results of what they do.
0:24:55 > 0:24:57A lot of them are brilliant.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00But I find them very tiresome to work with.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02They're always going behind the sets
0:25:02 > 0:25:07and working themselves up into some tremendous, frantic state.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09LAUGHTER And coming back
0:25:09 > 0:25:11when they're all worked up
0:25:11 > 0:25:13and you don't know what it's about.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16LAUGHTER All they ever say is good morning.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21I can't think why.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23But it looks terrific on the screen.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25I just...
0:25:25 > 0:25:27I've never seen any English actors do that.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32I mean, I've worked with a lot of British actors
0:25:32 > 0:25:37and I've never seen any actors go running around behind the set and...
0:25:37 > 0:25:40I mean, I knew one actor, one American actor,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43he had to run about a mile before saying anything at all.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46LAUGHTER Cos he liked to be out of breath.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48LAUGHTER
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Are you sure he wasn't doing that to sober up?
0:25:52 > 0:25:53LAUGHTER
0:25:53 > 0:25:56He wasn't a particular drunk, that one.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58But do you ever see yourself in a part and think,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I wish I'd worked myself up a bit more for that?
0:26:01 > 0:26:03Yes, very often. I find I'm half asleep most of the time!
0:26:03 > 0:26:05LAUGHTER
0:26:05 > 0:26:08I actually need to run around a bit, but I can't do it,
0:26:08 > 0:26:10I can't be bothered.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14He may not have been bothered most of the time,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17but Omar could still win acclaim when he tried.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21In 2003, he won France's Cesar award for Best Actor
0:26:21 > 0:26:25for his part in the film Monsieur Ibrahim.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30It would be his last performance of note, and he was 71,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33an age that at one stage he had looked forward to.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38How do you regard, for example, the prospect of growing old?
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Well, I love the idea of growing old.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45I think old people have an admirable life.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47I always envied
0:26:47 > 0:26:50the life that old people have.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53The only fear I possibly have about getting old
0:26:53 > 0:26:54is being ill or not well,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59but if I knew that I was not going to be ill and not well,
0:26:59 > 0:27:00then I would love to be old,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02cos it's got so many advantages.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06First of all, all the women problem is gone.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08LAUGHTER No, it's very good.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11You don't have that problem any more, so that's one thing.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15The other thing is that I think they have marvellous lives,
0:27:15 > 0:27:18all regulated, with wonderful little habits
0:27:18 > 0:27:22and you get up at exactly 7:37am,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25and you go in the kitchen and make your cup of tea yourself,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27and then you go out and get your newspaper
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and sit and walk in the park,
0:27:29 > 0:27:31and sit on that bench exactly for 56 minutes.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34I think it's a marvellous life that they have,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37they don't have any problems, really.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39And even in their relationship...
0:27:41 > 0:27:43..a couple, say, an old couple,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46is the most beautiful and charming thing that you can see,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48because it's real love.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51It's got none of the tension
0:27:51 > 0:27:55and fear that you have in young people's love,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57cos you're always afraid to lose the girl you love
0:27:57 > 0:27:59and she's afraid to lose you.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02When you're old, you're not really afraid to lose each other,
0:28:02 > 0:28:04it's relaxed and it's marvellous.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Sadly, Omar's final years were troubled with illness
0:28:07 > 0:28:09and Alzheimer's disease,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and he died of a heart attack in July 2015,
0:28:13 > 0:28:15aged 83.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20Despite those years when film success proved elusive,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23the tributes were affectionate and agreed that those early
0:28:23 > 0:28:26performances in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr Zhivago
0:28:26 > 0:28:29meant he deserved his place in cinema history -
0:28:29 > 0:28:34not only as the Arab world's first international movie star,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37but also as the actor who was introduced to audiences
0:28:37 > 0:28:40with what is arguably
0:28:40 > 0:28:43the finest entrance ever seen in film.