Soad Hosny's Biography

Soad Mohamed Hosny (January 26, 1942 – June 21, 2001 also known as Souad Hosni) was an Egyptian actress with a Syrian family background, born in the Ataba 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.

Hosny started her career at a very young age, through singing Okht El Qamar (Sister of the Moon) in the famous radio children program Baba Sharo. A family friend, Abdel Rahman el-Khamissy (a writer/director) discovered her acting talent 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 married for twelve years to film director Ali Badrakhan, whom she became pregnant from and, shortly after, miscarried. She later married Zaki Fateen Abdel Wahab, the son of Fateen Abdel Wahab (film director) and Leila Mourad. Hosny's marriage was to director Salah Kurim. Her last husband was to screenwriter Maher Awad. She first married the actor Abdel Halim Hafez for six years.

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.

RIP.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souad_Hosni