Soad Hosny

Soad Hosny سعاد حسني
Soad Hosny (1972)
Born	Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny

Soad Mohamed Hosny (Arabic:سعاد حسني January 26, 1943 – June 21, 2001) was an Egyptian actress born in the Bulaq district of Cairo. Hosny was known as the "Cinderella of Egyptian cinema" and one of the most influential actresses in the artistic arena. She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991. A majority of her films were shot in the 1960s and 1970s. Her final screen appearance was in the 1991 film The Shepherd and the Women, directed by her ex-husband Ali Badrakhan.

Early life and career

Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny Al Baba was born on January 26, 1943 in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt. She was the tenth sibling of 17 brothers and sisters. Hosni started her career at a very young age, through singing Okht El Qamar (Sister of the Moon) in the radio children program Baba Sharo. A family friend, Abdel Rahman el-Khamissy (a writer/director) discovered her and asked an Arabic language teacher at the time to give her singing lessons. Abdel Rahman was screening for the film Hassan We Na’ima, and wanted to present Hosny as his new discovery in the role of Na’ima. The film was produced and directed by Henry Barakat.

Hosny was known as the "Cinderella" of Arab cinema and one of the most influential actresses in the Arabic art world. She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991. A majority of her films were shot in the 1960s and 1970s. These include Saghira El Hob and Khally Balek Min ZouZou. In many of her films she acted alongside actors Hussein Fahmy, Roshdy Abaza, Nadia Lutfi and belly dancer Taheyya Kariokka. Hosny was also infamous for her love affairs and many marriages which always ended in failure and divorce. Her final screen appearance was in 1991, with the movie Al Ra'i We El Nissa.

Notable family members

Soad Hosny's Birth Certificate

- Soad Hosny's birth certificate shows that both of her parents were Egyptian citizens.

• Father: Mohammad Hosny - Egyptian calligrapher.
• Mother: Gawhara Mohamed Hassan - Egyptian citizen
• Half sister: Nagat el Saghira - Egyptian singer
• Brother: Ezz Eddin Hosny - Egyptian music composer
• Brother: Sami Hosni - Egyptian cello player / jewelry designer / Arabic calligrapher

Marriages

Soad Hosny was married four times. She was rumored to be married to Egyptian musician Abdel Halim Hafez for an unknown period of time (6 years were proposed). But there is no proof of this, though they were close friends. Around 1968, she was married to cinematographer Salah Kurayyem; the marriage lasted for approximately one year. In 1970, Soad Hosny was married to film director Ali Badrakhan; this marriage lasted for approximately eleven years. She was married to Zaki Fateen Abdel-Wahab in 1981, the son of Fateen Abdel-Wahab (film director) and Leila Mourad; this marriage lasted only five months. Finally, in 1987, she was married to Salah Awwad, and she died while still married to him.

Death

Hosny died in London, England in 2001. This occurred after she had suffered severely from an unknown illness for five years. Hosny had sought treatment in the UK after sustaining a spinal fracture which had forced her to leave Egypt.

In 2001, she was found on the sidewalk below the building in which she was living; she had fallen from the balcony of her apartment. Courts in England could not decide whether Hosny had committed suicide or had been killed by her care-taker. In 2002, however, British courts decided that the cause of Hosny's death had been a suicide, although substantial evidence suggested she had been murdered. Prosecutors argued that a woman on the verge of suicide would not have been in the right state of mind to cut through steel netting. Also, while one slipper was still on her foot, the other was found in her bathroom suggesting she has been dragged to the balcony. It has been noted that Hosny has recorded her diaries on tape in preparation for the publication of her biography. This is cited as a motive for murder as the tapes went missing after her death and also because they were said to contain material that would have hurt important public figures in Egypt like Zakaria Azmi and Hosni Mubarak.

Selected filmography

• Hassan wa Na'ima (Hassan and Na’ima) (1959).
• Esha'a hob (Rumour of Love) (1960).
• El banat waal saif (The Girls and the Summer) (1960).
• He talata (H-3) (1961).
• Aaz el habaieb (I Want Love) (1961).
• Ghosn el zeitoun (The Olive Branch) (1962).
• El dow el khafet (The Dim Light) (1962).
• Mawed fil borj (Meeting at the Tower) (1963).
• Al-sahera al-saghira (The Little Sorceress) (1963).
• El Morahekan (The Two Young Teenagers) (1964).
• El garima el dahika (The Laughing Crime) (1964).
• Awwal hob (First Love) (1964).
• El ariss yassel ghadan (The Groom Arrives Tomorrow) (1964).
• Al-Tareek (The Road) (1964).
• Gharamiyat Imraa (A Woman's Affairs) (1966).
• Shakket el talaba (Students' Apartment) (1966).
• Chakawet rejala (The Awful Men) (1966).
• Lailat el zafaf (The Wedding Night) (1966).
• Al-Kahira thalatheen (Cairo 1930) (1966).
• Saghira ala elhob (Too Young to Love) (1966).
• Shabab magnoun geddan (Very Crazy Youth) (1967).
• El lekaa el tani (The Second Meeting) (1967).
• Al-zawja al-thaniya (The Second Wife) (1967).
• Zawag alla tarika el-hadissa (Marriage a la moderne) (1968).
• El-sit el-nazra (The Headmistress) (1968).
• Al-Nil wal-Hayat (The People of the Nile) (1968).
• Baba ayez keda (Daddy Wants it That Way) (1968).
• Al Ikhtiyar (The Choice) (1970).
• Al-hob al-dayi (Lost Love) (1970).
• Zawgati wal-kalb (My Wife and the Dog) (1971).
• Khalli Balak min Zouzou (Watch out for Zouzou) (1972).
• Ghurabaa (Strangers) (1973).

Old novelty film poster of Soad Hosni from the film Amira... Hobi Ana

• Amira hobi ana (My Love's Princess") (1974).
• Ala min notliq al-rasas (Whom Should We Shoot?) (1975).
• Al-Karnak (The Karnak Cafe) (1975).
• Chafika et Metwal(1979).
• Maowid ala ashaa (A Dinner Date) (1981).
• Al-Mashbouh (The Suspect) (1981).
• Al-Go'a (The Hunger) (1986).
• Al-Darga Al-Thalitha (The 3rd Class) (1988).
• Howa wa heya (Him and Her) (TV series with Ahmed Zaki), (1985).
• Al-Ra'i wal Nisaa (The Shepherd and the Women) (1991).

Bibliography

• Ashraf Gharib,2001: "Soad Hosni: Al-Hulm Al-Dai' (Soad Hosni: The Lost Dream)"
• Mohamed Soweid,2004: " Cabaret Suad", Beirut: Dar al-Adab

References

• Searching for the "Cinderella"
• The cornflake predicament
• Return of Soad

External links

External links

• Official website
• Soad Hosny at the Internet Movie Database
• "...Zouzou"
• Egyptian Figures
• El Cinema

Articles and essays

• "رسالة السندريلا إلى الله!" (in Arabic)
• "Souad Hosny dies in London after struggling with disease" (in Arabic)

Media portrayals

• Movies or series featuring actresses portraying Soad Hosny