Youssef Wahbi

 ( 1898 Births ) 

Youssef Abdallah Wahbi Qotb () (14 July 1898 – 17 October 1982) was an Egyptians stage, film actor and film director, a Leading actor of the 1930s and 1940s and one of the most prominent Egyptian stage actors of all time, who also served on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. He was born to a high state official in Egypt but renounced his family's wealth and traveled to Rome in the 1919 to study theatre, married with Elena Lunda. Besides his stage work, he acted in around 50 films in Egyptian cinema, starting with Awlad al-Zawat ( Sons of Aristocrats, 1932) to "Iskanderiya... lih?" ( Alexandria... Why?, 1978).

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Early life Youssef Wahbi was born into an family, from the Fayoum region.renowned in Egypt (and, particularly, in the other Arab lands) are Yusuf Wahbi and his confederates...He was born in a well-to-do Egyptian family of Egyptian origin from Al Fayoum region. He was named after the place where he was born, Bahr Yussef and his father worked as an inspector in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.

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Career In 1926, Turkish filmmaker Vedat Örfi Bengü approached Wahbi to play the role of the Prophet Muhammed in a film which would be financed by the Turkey government and a Germany producer. Whilst the President of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the Istanbul council of ulamas gave their approval to the film, the Al-Azhar University in Cairo published a juridical decision stipulating that Islam forbids the representation of the prophet and his companions. Thereafter, King Fouad warned Whabi that he would be exiled and stripped of his Egyptian citizenship if he took part in the film. Consequently, the film was later abandoned.

Wahbi started acting in the Golden Age of the Egyptian Cinema in 1932, he has also starred in several plays which he translated into many languages due to his fluency in English language, French language, and Italian language, along with his native Arabic tongue. He played many roles that were different and unusual for both film and plays. He once played the Devil and he later on wanted to play Muhammad but the media and Al-Azhar University, the authoritative institution on Sunni Islam, were opposed to the idea and he was forbidden from going through with it.

Alessandra. Raengo & Robert Stam (2025). 063123053X, Blackwell Publishing. . 063123053X

He is one of the most respected and beloved artists of all time in the Cinema of Egypt and several French and English companies tried to save his movies by reissuing them again.

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Death

He died in 1982 at the age of 80 in Cairo, Egypt, sick with arthritis and with a fractured pelvis. He was survived by his wife.

Even though he came from a very rich family, throughout his career and life his focus was the film industry.

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Selected filmography

1932	Awlad el zawat	Actor	a.k.a. the Spoiled Children or Sons of Aristocrats
1935	Al Defaa	Actor and director	a.k.a. The defense
1937	El Magid el khalid	Actor	a.k.a. Eternal Glory
1938	Saet el tanfiz	Actor	a.k.a. The Hour of Fate
1940	Leila momtera	Actor	a.k.a. Stormy night
1941	Leila, bint el rif	actor	a.k.a. Leila, the schoolgirl
	Areess min Istambul	Actor	a.k.a. A Suitor from Istanbul
1944	Gharam wa intiqam	Actor and director	a.k.a. Love and Revenge
	Berlanti	Actor, writer and director	a.k.a. Berlanti
1945	Safeer Gohannam	Actor and director	a.k.a. The Ambassador of Hell
1946	Malak Elrahma	Actor and director	a.k.a. The Angel of Mercy
1949	Ghazal Al Banat	Actor (as himself)	a.k.a. The Flirtation of Girls
1951	Amina	Actor	a.k.a. Amina
1955	Hayat ou maut	Actor	a.k.a. Life or Death
	Bahr El-Gharam	Actor	a.k.a. Sea of Love
1960	Mal Wa Nissa	Actor	a.k.a. Money and Women
1960	Isha't Hub	Actor	a.k.a. A Rumor of Love
1979	Iskanderija... lih?	Actor	a.k.a. Alexandria... Why?

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External links

• "Youssef Wahby Dead at 84; Dean of the Egyptian Stage", The New York Times, October 17, 1982.
• Youssef Wahbi at IMDb

Categories: 1898 Births, 1982 Deaths, People From Faiyum Governorate, Egyptian Male Film Actors, Egyptian Television Actors, Egyptian Film Directors, Egyptian Film Producers, Egyptian Male Stage Actors, 20th-century Egyptian Artists, 20th-century Egyptian Male Artists, 20th-century Egyptian Male Actors

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