Google is marking what would have been the 86th birthday of Omar Sharif with a doodle honoring the celebrated actor.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1932, Sharif starred in a number of Egyptian films before being cast in the epic film, “Lawrence of Arabia.”
“Actor Omar Sharif made his indelible mark on Hollywood cinema without uttering a word,” writes Google on its Google Doodle blog, “Playing the Arab warrior Sherif Ali in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia, Sharif first appears as a tiny dot on the desert horizon, growing larger as his camel gallops into the frame with Peter O’Toole.”
Sharif’s role in “Lawrence of Arabia” earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and two Golden Globe Awards — one for Best Supporting Actor and a second for New Star of the Year. Sharif would go on to star in more than 60 films, including classics like “Funny Girl” and “Doctor Zhivago,” for which he won a third Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in 1965.
The artwork for Sharif’s doodle was designed by doodler Sophie Diao. The doodle leads to a search for “Omar Sharif” and is featured on Google’s US home page and a number of its international pages.
One side note Google shared in its coverage of the Sharif doodle is that the actor was a world-renowned bridge player and even had a syndicated column about the card game that was published by the Chicago Tribune. He also authored two bridge books: 1983’s “Omar Sharif’s Life in Bridge” and 1994’s “Play More Bridge With Omar Sharif.”
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.