Cairo: Iconic Egyptian actress Faten Hamama died Saturday after suffering a medical crisis. She was 83.
Hamama was admitted several weeks ago to a Cairo hospital and was later released, but then had to be hospitalised again when her health deteriorated, the official Egyptian agency MENA reported.
She was one of Egypt's most prominent actresses from the 1950s to the early 70s.
Born to a lower middle class family in the city of Mansura on the Nile delta, she made her movie debut in 1939 when only seven years old.
Stardom came in 1946 with the movie "Angel of Mercy" by Malak al Rahma, a big hit in which he showcased Hamama's talent as a dramatic actress.
With the start of the golden age of Egyptian movie in the 1950s, Hamama starred in some of the top productions such as 1954 movie "Struggle in the Valley" by Yusef Chahine, which got a Cannes Film Festival nomination.
Her second marriage was to famed Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, with whom she co-starred in the Chahine movie.
The couple went on to make many films together, the last one before their divorce being "The River of Love".
Hamama appeared in several television series until she retired in 2000, when she was named "star of the century" by the Egyptian writers and critics guild.
