Mary Queeny

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Mary Queeny (Arabic: ماري كويني‎; 1913–2003) was a Lebanese actress and film producer.

Mary Queeny
Mary Queeny.jpg
Mary Queeny circa 1945
Born
Mary Boutros Younis

1913
Died2003
Occupation

Biography[]

She was born Mary Boutros Younis in 1913 to a Lebanese Christian family in Lebanon. Her mother's cousin was Asaad Dagher, a writer and journalist at the Al-Ahram newspaper. In 1923 she moved to Cairo with her aunt, actress and film producer Assia Dagher.[1] She took the name Mary Queeny when she was 12. She married Egyptian film actor and director Ahmad Galal[2] in 1940. Their son is film director Nader Galal. Until her retirement in 1982, she produced all of the films he directed.[3]

Queeny became a popular actress and producer in a pioneering age of Egyptian cinema. Her first role was in 1929 in the film Ghadat al-sahara (The Desert Beauty). She went on to star in all of her aunt's subsequent films.[3] She appeared in 20 films and was among the first women in Egypt to appear on screen without a veil.[1]

With her husband she founded Galal Films in 1942; in 1944 it became Gala Studios. During the Golden Age of Egyptian film, it was one of the five largest studios.[3] In 1958 she established a film colour processing laboratory, which in 1963 she sold to the Misr Company, now Misr International, which was later acquired by Youssef Chahine and his niece, Marianne Khoury.[1]

Queeny died on 23 November 2003 in Cairo of a heart attack. She was 90.[1]

Selected filmography[]

  • Pangs Of Conscience (1931)
  • When A Woman Loves (1933)
  • Rebellious Girl (1940)(in which she took her first leading role)
  • Prisoner No 17 (1949)
  • The Seventh Wife (1950)
  • Sacrificing My Love (1951).
  • Women Without Men (1953), the last in which she acted, was made by Egypt's leading living director, Youssef Chahine

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Issa, Rose (1 January 2004). "Obituary: Mary Queeny". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Ahmad Galal". imdb.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Hillauer, Rebecca (2005). Encyclopedia of Arab Women Filmmakers. Cairo: American Univ. in Cairo Press. p. 32. ISBN 977-424-943-7.

External links[]


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