Biographies: Samia Gamal - Actor

Biographies

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Samia Gamaal was an Egyptian belly dancer and actor. She was born in the village of “Youn al-kass”- Beni Sweif . In 1940, Samia joined Badee’a Massabny troupe where she participated in group dancing. After that, she played small roles in many films and succeeded to play lead roles next to Muhammad Abdul Mottaleb and Nagueeb al-Rihaany. Samia performed in “Entessaar al-shabaab i.e. Triumph of the youth (1941)” where she danced in the finale sketch and appeared in a scene with Fareed al-Atrash. Samia together with Fareed formed a successful duet starting with the film “Habeeb al-‘omr i.e. The love of my life (1946)”. Through five famous films; “Ahebbak enta i.e. I love you only (1949)”, ”’Afreeta Haanem i.e. Little Miss Devil (1949)”, “Aakher kedba i.e. The last lie (1950)”, “Ta’aala sallem i.e. Come and say hello (1951)” and “Ma t’olsh le had i.e. Don’t tell anyone (1952)”, where Fareed sang his own melodies and Samia danced her great dances. They fell in love, yet not married and left each other. Samia costarred in a dozen of films with many of the well known actors of that period such; Muhammad Abdul Muttaleb, Nagueeb al-Reehaany, Muhammad Fawzy, Abdul Azeez Mahmoud..etc Later on, Samia played lead roles next to famous vedettes as Kamaal al-Shennaawy, ‘Omar Sharif, Mahmoud al-Meleegy, Anwar Wagdy, ‘Emaad Hamdy, Yehia Shaheen, Youssef Wahby, Ahmad Maz-har and Shoukry Sarhaan. In late 1950s, Samia married superstar Roushdy Abaaza and they featured together a number of films, including; “Al-ragol al-thaany i.e. The second man (1959)”, “Tareek al-shaytaan i.e. Devil’s path (1963), “Saa’at al-sefr i.e. Zero hour (1972)” and “Al-shaytaan wal-khareef i.e. The devil and the fall (1972)“, in which Samia was dedicated to acting more than dancing. Samia's charismatic performances in Egyptian and international films gave Oriental Dance recognition and admiration in Egypt and worldwide.

• 24 May 2011
• Achraf Wassim