I don’t know much about Mr. Sharif except that he was a wonderful actor and a world-class bridge player. Also, he was beautiful in his prime. Rest in peace.
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This post is in: Open Threads, RIP
I don’t know much about Mr. Sharif except that he was a wonderful actor and a world-class bridge player. Also, he was beautiful in his prime. Rest in peace.
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Randy P
I haven’t actually seen that many Sharif films. Saw Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, and a more recent French film called Monsieur Ibrahim. He was wonderful in all of course.
NotMax
Exoneration extended for his involvement in Oh! Heavenly Dog and Funny Lady.
gbear
And he took a Three-Stooges level of abuse for the sake of puns and bad jokes in the Zucker Brothers movie Top Secret.
MaryRC
@NotMax: I think everyone involved in Funny Lady requires exoneration. But I’ve always been a fan. I admire him especially for being a master at bridge, a game that I’m still trying to learn. RIP, Mr. Sharif.
Amir Khalid
@gbear:
Top Secret! My second favourite Omar Sharif movie, after Lawrence of Arabia!
donnah
Classy, handsome actor. RIP
I watched the battle flag being taken down in Columbia a few minutes ago. Very moving, very gratifying.
One flag at a time, one hurdle crossed.
schrodinger's cat
@Randy P: Me too, only seen him in those two classics and not on the big screen. I saw Dr. Zhivago when I was a teen, and didn’t much like it, thought the book was much better. May be I should see it again.
Greengoblin
I loved his voice.
RIP indeed.
gbear
@donnah:
Who was the person that was chosen to take the flag down? I know it’s not on a rope like a regular flag so someone must have had to go up a ladder to remove it?
Germy Shoemangler
@gbear: I liked that once the flag came down, it was handed to the black guard. And I loved the crowd singing “Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good bye”
@gbear: The rope was inside the pole. It came down when they turned a crank.
Quite a few conservative cranks got turned this day.
Mike in NC
Trump would say that back in the day, “Omar was yooouge, and very classy!”
WaterGirl
@Germy Shoemangler: I think they should have handed it to the woman who scaled the pole and took it down the first time!
gene108
No sports fans? Ken “the Snake” Stabler also passed away recently. He was only 69.
Thunderbird
@gene108: The fustercluck yesterday around that was cringe-worthy. Apparently the Tuscaloosa News reported it, then had to retract it, then the family finally confirmed it. Yeesh.
Germy Shoemangler
@WaterGirl: She would have been my first choice.
I saw a beautiful drawing of her as a mighty superhero, but I don’t remember where. She is my hero.
EDIT: Found it!
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/29/bree-newsome-removes-a-symbol-of-hate/?_r=0
Germy Shoemangler
Cat watching a boxing match on tv
The way she’s acting, I have to assume she was betting money on the outcome.
WaterGirl
@Germy Shoemangler: I think she wants to get in the ring! Those are her peeps.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Sharif and Peter O’Toole became lifelong friends after working on Lawrence of Arabia for so long together (via IMDb):
Brachiator
@donnah:
Columbia Pictures lowered their flag in honor of Omar Sharif? Impressive.
@WaterGirl
The best editorial cartoon was the one in which the flag is ultimately lowered into a trash can. But I guess I have no problem with it being sent to a history museum. It is amazing and gratifying that they were finally able to get this thing removed.
WaterGirl
@Germy Shoemangler: It’s a great drawing and really nice article, too. I had no idea that she is a filmmaker and musician. I saw her on Larry Wilmore’s show – besides being brave, she’s smart and beautiful and poised and has a wonderful smile.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Also, too, O’Toole was right that “Omar Sharif” was a mere stage name. Sharif’s birth name was Michel Shalhoub (he was of Lebanese and Syrian descent and grew up speaking French).
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Yep. It’s a good day.
I wonder why this change and nothing in response to the massacre of all those little kids in Newtown. I guess there’s no confederate flag lobby threatening to no longer give money to our elected officials.
piratedan
he was actually kinda nifty in the The 13th Warrior too. Some actors just exude culture (David Niven comes to mind), he was one of them.
Germy Shoemangler
Tom the Dancing Bug addresses the innocent southern heritage aspect of that great, good flag:
http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2015/07/03
“cool lemonade on a warm evening, findin’ that perfect fishing pole….”
Germy Shoemangler
@piratedan: I agree, there was a generation of actors that had a special quality, a blend of culture, humor, dignity, without taking themselves too seriously.
I read David Niven’s biography, and his final days were literally a hell on earth. His first wife, the love of his life, had died in a hideous accident (falling down a flight of basement stairs) and his next wife treated him horribly while he wasted away from ALS.
MazeDancer
HBO-GO says it is streaming Dr. Zhivago through August.
Germy Shoemangler
I notice my local “THIS-TV” station (which usually plays crappy, low-budget early-’90s movies) played “West Side Story” several times. Some of the lyrics go beyond the usual happy-happy Broadway musical stuff, and instead address bigotry and the lack of opportunities for people of color… Made me wonder if it was in honor of Trump’s comments.
Randy P
@Germy Shoemangler: One of my favorite Niven memories is as the explosives expert in The Guns of Navarone, and butting heads (figuratively) with Gregory Peck. We got to see a side of Niven we didn’t usually see.
I also remember one scene at the end of some movie I’ve forgotten the rest of, where Niven is a concert pianist who for some reason or other has to throw a punch. It knocks out his opponent in one blow. Supposedly the piano playing gave him the strength. As an amateur pianist who has never been in a fight, that always appealed to me.
JPL
I’m so pleased that the mayor gave the USA Soccer team, the parade that they deserved.
This was on the NYTimes live feed.. Parade/political psychoanalysis update: Gov Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are on separate floats, w/ an 10-float buffer between them.
RIP Omar
MattF
Has anyone really noticed that J P Morgan Chase is cartoonishly evil and slimy?
If you just google ‘J P morgan chase fines and penalties’– it’s just astonishing, even for a cynic like me.
Germy Shoemangler
@Randy P: Here’s a great photo of a young Niven partying in old Hollywood with Bert Lahr, Dave Chasen, Robert Benchley and Herbert Marshall.
What a time!
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
I don’t know. I would like to see some local writing on the issue, instead of some of the political and historical punditry (even though this stuff if important, too).
I get a sense that some of the legislators who personally knew Clementa Pinckney were deeply affected by his murder; and the brutal way in which the other victims were killed all made it harder to ignore the historical obscenity of the Confederate flag, especially when the racial motivation behind the shooting became so clear that it could not possibly be ignored or wished away
So perhaps dealing with the flag finally gave some of the people there the ability to deal with an aspect of American racism.
But the other aspect of this tragedy, the gun mania that we saw here and in Newton, that is a harder issue to confront and to deal with.
MattF
I’m in moderation for– I don’t know what, exactly. Pointing out that J. P. Morgan Chase is cartoonishly evil.
raven
@Germy Shoemangler: “I’ll fight ya standin on one foot. . . . rarrrrhhrrr.”
Betty Cracker
@MattF: Nope. Your link was just super long.
ultraviolet thunder
I’m at the hospital where my mother has just had what is probably futile surgery to save her life. This happened fast. All of my siblings and inlaws are here so we’re arguing about food.
As one does at these times.
Life goes on.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: Thanks.
Germy Shoemangler
@ultraviolet thunder: Sorry to hear about your Mother. I hope she’s getting the best care possible.
I saw the best and the worst of the medical profession when my parents passed. (Within three months of each other.)
ultraviolet thunder
@Germy Shoemangler:
Thanks. My sister is a nurse and is very satisfied.
Oops. Here comes a doctor.
Thanks for the kind thoughts.
Betty Cracker
@ultraviolet thunder: I hope your mom pulls through. Wishing much strength and courage to you and your family. Situations like that are so difficult on every possible level. I hope you can help each other get through it, whatever the outcome.
Brachiator
@Germy Shoemangler:
One of my favorite jokes about West Side Story is that when the kid shouts the name Maria, about a hundred young women should have stuck their heads out of the windows.
Oh, yes. Music by Leonard Berstein. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. A complexity with the night music was to be expected, and nicely done.
Germy Shoemangler
Interesting thoughts on Sanders and his chances: “Why Bernie Sanders Will Fail”
I disagree. I think the disenchantment runs very deep.
jibeaux
@WaterGirl: I think the simple answer is we have just decided that the frequent massacre of innocents is a price we are willing to pay in the service of guns. If Newtown didn’t change gun laws, nothing can change gun laws. A number of my friends got involved in those movements after Newtown, and i just couldn’t, because I can’t bang my head against a wall for the rest of my life hoping to make a dent in the wall. I fostered a dog, donated some money to kids’ charities.
NotMax
Have to admit that when saw mention of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers yesterday, for a fleeting moment thought maybe had crossed over to an alternate dimensional Randinho thread about the Galaxy Cup.
gbear
@WaterGirl:
If a statehouse was flying an NRA flag, it would have come down after Newton.
For all it’s symbolism, taking the flag down is the absolutely least they can do in this situation. It doesn’t change any laws or attitudes, it just says that we now think this is a bad idea, and we can all feel better about it not being displayed on public grounds any more.
It is a big symbolic move though. The flag won’t be there for the KKK rally coming up later today (or this weekend?)
JPL
@ultraviolet thunder: Thinking of you!
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
For several summers, Niven and Erroll Flynn rented and shared a summer house waggishly dubbed Cirrhosis-by-the-Sea.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: I don’t think Charleston was any more brutal than Newtown, but maybe it was harder to ignore because the shooter in Charleston so clearly stated why he was doing it.
I don’t do well with seeing graphic blood, guts, violence, etc. But sometimes I think they should have released the photos of those tiny little bodies that were shredded by the bullets in Newtown to bring the reality home to people. Make it so people can’t just look away from the violence and destruction.
Edited the last line for clarity.
Another Holocene Human
@ultraviolet thunder: Hugs. Those hospital vigils are the worst.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@ultraviolet thunder: I’m sorry to hear that. I hope that your mother is being kept out of pain, and that the family food arguments serve as comforting diversions.
WaterGirl
@ultraviolet thunder: I am so sorry to hear about your mother, and it’s terrible waiting for a doctor to come and tell you whether the person you love has survived.
sending love and grace your way
WaterGirl
@jibeaux: rule #1 – do what you have to do to keep your sanity.
JPL
@WaterGirl: I doubt that it would help.
WaterGirl
@gbear: Thanks for the reminder of my first thought when the serious flag discussions started – please please lets talk about the confederate flag rather than address the racism or guns.
Edit: They will do anything to avoid the bigger discussions.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
I didn’t mean to compare the events in terms of brutality. What I was trying to say that the some of the legislators sat right next to Clementa Pinckney, and as legislators, they had the power to do something about the flag, something that honored Pinckney and the other victims. And a number of people, including some of the legislators, knew people who originally championed the flag in all its racists aspects. Maybe some of them, or their family members, currently know of or participate in white supremacist organizations. They had to look at themselves and their friends and family, and decide whether to try to jettison connections with the evil and ugliness that the flag represents, and which was behind the shooting.
This aspect of the tragedy is different from what happened in Newton, where causes and motives are much more diffuse by comparison.
I don’t think this would make a difference. And in some ways it would disrespect those who were killed.
Another Holocene Human
@gbear: CT and its region reacted pretty strongly to Newtown. Unfortunately they’re part of a larger country whose basic reaction was Fuck you, losers, and your dead kids.
A certain big organization I’m a part of had a proposal to condemn gun violence make its way out of committee. It was favored by the urban representatives, and I totally got where they were coming from. Totally a killer with the rural districts. These people have let themselves be convinced that gun control is going to ban them from huntin’ and fishin’ and mounting their rifles on their gun rack during huntin’ season and inheriting that cool Nazi pistol from Uncle Joe ….
Cervantes
@Germy Shoemangler:
Short-sighted.
In some ways Sanders is already succeeding.
Cervantes
@ultraviolet thunder:
Glad she’s receiving good care. Good luck. Hang in there.
Calouste
@Germy Shoemangler:
I read that as more blahblah by someone who hasn’t moved on from the Vietnam era. Which is now almost as far away from us as WW1 was from the Vietnam era.
Paul in KY
@ultraviolet thunder: Very sorry to hear that. Just tell her how much you love her. All the rest can wait.
Eric U.
@Cervantes: it’s discouraging to go over to dKos and see the people that are bound to be disillusioned when Sanders gets taken out by Hillary. It seems like it’s really bitter already, and reminds me a lot of the Dean campaign back in 2004. He wasn’t everything lots of us thought he was in 2004, and Sanders has some similar baggage. I must say that I am considering giving him money so he can stick around and pull Hillary to the left a little. I’m not sure though, her campaign seems to have internalized the need to emphasize economic inequality as an issue.
Spinoza Is My Co-pilot
Omar Sharif — one of my favorite actors. He made it to 83, so good for him.
Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, of course, but one of my other favorite Omar Sharif movies was the little-known The Horsemen (from ’71) in which he starred as the protagonist.
It’s a contemporary story set in Afghanistan, and was filmed there. Jack Palance played Sharif’s village headman father, Leigh Taylor-Young a tragic love interest, John Frankenheimer directed.
It was not critically-acclaimed, but I loved it and definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys tragic adventure/epic journey stories (like, say, the wonderful The Man Who Would Be King from ’75).
Brachiator
@Germy Shoemangler:
What a load of crap. The comparison with McCarthy and 1968 is just wrongheaded, and the author, like a lot of idiot pundits, seems to be trying to predict the future or to impose a pattern on history.
I have no idea what will happen with Sanders quest to become the presidential nominee, nor does anyone else. Anybody who claims they either have a poll or a crystal ball that will let them know the future is blowing it out of their arse.
And is Hillary Clinton supposed to be the equivalent of Lyndon Johnson?
Also, McCarthy honorably inspired some people who either entered politics or at least actively support political campaigns. And perhaps McCarthy also inspired purity types. He once called Jimmy Carter the worst president ever. Still, we should let Clean Gene rest in peace, rather than pull out his bones to rattle them at Sanders.
Just sayin’
shell
Sharif-
Interesting in how life expectancy has increased so, even 83 seems too young to go.
rikyrah
He was so handsome…even as he matured.
He was a championship level bridge player.
One weekend I did a Dr. Zhivago/Lawrence of Arabia double header.
My whole Saturday was gone one I finished them.
RIP, Mr. Sharif
p.a.
@WaterGirl: Yes. One was murder as a political statement, the other murder for its own sake/insane revenge nuttery.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Good point about the legislators. I watched the impassioned speech of the white female representative yesterday and she was crying when she talked about Clementa Pinckney and his family. This was clearly personal to her.
Even if that’s what it took to get here, I am glad they took down the flag even thought there is an endless amount of more work to be done.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
Addressing the issue of the flag indirectly let some people in South Carolina address the issue of racism. It is a very interesting, tentative first step, where previously people would either ignore the issue entirely or just tell people to STFU and keep their thoughts about the flag to themselves.
Hell, in a sense, even the issue of guns is a symptom of something larger and harder to define or deal with.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Randy P:
Despite the effete roles he ended up with in Hollywood, Niven was a commando officer in WWII (he quit films in order to enlist). So he was in reality the best kind of tough guy, the kind who doesn’t need to brag about it.
bystander
@MazeDancer: TCM shows it in 5 hour intervals.
Omar’s grandson, Omar Jr., I kid you not, fled Egypt in the Egyptian Spring. Omar Jr. is not just gay, he’s half-Jewish, too. Ended up here working for GLAAD. Currently shilling for Ian Reisner. Can’t figure how “Jr.” ever became part of his name, but whatevs.
MomSense
@ultraviolet thunder:
Sorry to hear about your mom. Sending good thoughts your way.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
I didn’t know about his war experience. What a hell of a life; and his relations with his wives were tinged with awful tragedy. But Niven seemed to really embody that quality of carrying on, and seemed to have had a genuine sense of humor which perhaps helped him in the toughest times.
This little tidbit stood out, regarding Niven’s funeral.
What a gent.
Oamar Sharif’s life was perhaps less tumultuous, and he had his share of negative publicity over various things. But he also seemed to have a good heart and fast friends.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@ultraviolet thunder:
Sadly, many of us around here have been in your shoes the past few years. It’s not much consolation to know that we understand, but we do.
NotoriousJRT
Saw Dr. Z for first time when I was too young to understand it. That Omar Sharif was beautiful in his prime was all I took away from it.
currants
@ultraviolet thunder: Thinking of you.
Bobby B.
@Brachiator: TCM usually runs “West” about once a month. Wait for it and be spared THiS-TV’s unending 1980’s fecalfest.
A book I have on pub-rock mentioned that Sharif got roped into the “Bridge-o-rama” TV program in the UK 1970, a series dreamed up by some sharp operators, and this story ended with Stiff Records.
gogol's wife
@WaterGirl:
Someone may have answered this, but in Connecticut we actually did pass some gun laws after Newtown. The rest of the country, not so much. The governor has been taking flak for it ever since from the ammosexuals.
PurpleGirl
I saw Dr.Zhivago when I 12 or 13. I talked my mother into going to the movie with me. (My parents didn’t often let me go to the movies — expensive you know.) I’d already read the book so I had an idea about the story line. I thought the movie was good but Sharif was fantastic. Those scenes in the snow covered villa were incredible.
I knew that David Niven was on active duty during WWII, but I often forget exactly what he was doing. He, along with a number of Hollywood leads did incredible work in their respective armies or air forces. (IIRC Leslie Howard was shot down and killed.)
@ultraviolet thunder: I sorry you’re experiencing this. Hope that you and your family are ablt find peace and comfort no matter what the outcome is.
Tree With Water
Sharif and Peter O’Toole were arrested with Lenny Bruce in a heroin bust days before the release of Lawrence of Arabia.. They had met a a club where Bruce was performing, and before hitting the town together went by Bruce’s apartment where they were all arrested for possession (of Bruce’s stash). Sharif told of calling the film’s producer (Sam Speigel?) from the police station, whose visions of losing his shirt caused him to launch into a tirade that ended with him telling Sharif to keep his mouth shut and wait for a lawyer to bail them both out. But when the lawyer got there, the drunken O’Toole refused to leave Bruce behind, and wouldn’t leave the cell unless the comedian went with them. Sharif laughed in telling the story years later, and the great film was bound for glory. But imagine if that arrest had been publicized before its release. In the early ’60’s, a heroin bust might well have resulted in big problems for any movie, much less if two of the film’s stars had been implicated.
Shaun Appleby
@PurpleGirl: Not to mention James Stewart who led missions over Germany as CO of a heavy bomber squadron.
Tree With Water
@Shaun Appleby: Nivens wrote a book entitled The Moon’s A Balloon that has a photo of Stewart in London during WW2 wearing his Army Air Corps uniform and mowing a lawn. They knew each other from Hollywood, and along with other ex-pats from LA would occasionally rub shoulders with each other in London prior to D Day. Niven served in a remarkably efficient unit put together by General Montgomery, whose members were given jeeps and radios and told to fan out and report what they saw directly back to the General. In fact, he was in the Ardennes immediately prior to the attack that launched the Battle of the Bulge, and while there asked an American commander his estimate of the situation. The officer pointed to a range of hills, and said behind them a Panzer division was forming that would soon attack, and said (pointing to the doors of the room they were in), “they’ll come through that door and go out that door, because we’ve won’t be able to stop them”. Niven laughed, and asked if he’d mentioned it to anyone else. The American officer responded it had been his number one message to headquarters each day for the prior week, all of which had gone unheeded. Hours later it all began. Nivens was also a graduate of Sandhurst…