Youssef Wahbi

hideThis article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: the article is full of incorrect grammar and is too opinionated. Please help if you can. (September 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Youssef Abdullah Wahby Qotb
يوسف عبد الله هديب وهبي قطب
Born	Youssef Abdullah Wahby Qotb (1898-07-14)July 14, 1898 Fayoum, Egypt
Died	October 17, 1982(1982-10-17) (aged 84) Cairo, Egypt
Occupation	Actor Director Theater
Years active	1932–1978

Youssef Abdallah Wahbi Qotb (Arabic: يوسف عبد الله هديب وهبي قطب‎) (Fayoum, Egypt; July 14, 1898 – October 17, 1982) was an Egyptian stage and film actor and director, a leading star of the 1930s and 1940s and one of the most prominent Egyptian stage actors of any era, who also served on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. He was born to a high state official in Egypt but renounced his family's wealth and traveled to Rome in the 1920s to study theatre. Besides his stage work, he acted in about 50 films, starting with Awlad al-Zawat (Sons of Aristocrats; 1932) to "Iskanderiya... lih?" (Alexandria... Why?, 1978).

Early life[]

Youssef Wahbi was born into an Egyptian family of Egyptian origin, from the Fayoum region. ^[1][2] He was named after the place where he was born, Bahr Yussef and his father worked as an inspector in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.^[3]

Career[]

In 1926, Turkish filmmaker Vedat Örfi Bengü approached Wahbi to play the role of the Prophet Muhammed in a European film which would be financed by the Turkish government and a German producer.^[4] Whilst the President of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and the Istanbul council of ulamas gave their approval to the film, the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo published a juridical decision stipulating that Islam forbids the representation of the prophet and his companions.^[4] Thereafter, King Fouad warned Whabi that he would be exiled and stripped of his Egyptian citizenship if he took part in the film.^[4] Consequently, the film was later abandoned.^[5]

Wahbi started acting in the golden age of the Egyptian Cinema in 1932,^[6] he has also starred in several plays which he translated into many languages due to his fluency in English, French, and Italian, along with his native Arabic tongue. He played many roles that were different and unusual for both Egyptian film and plays. He once played the Devil and he later on wanted to play Muhammad but the media and Al-Azhar University, the authoritative institution on Sunni Islam, were opposed to the idea and he was forbidden from going through with it.^[7]

He is one of the most respected and beloved artists of all time in the Cinema of Egypt and several French and English companies tried to save his movies by reissuing them again.

Death[]

He died in 1982, sick with arthritis and with a fractured pelvis, survived by his wife in Cairo, Egypt at the age of 84, Even though he comes from a very rich family, throughout his career and life his entire focus was the Film Industry.^[8][9]

Filmography[]

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Youssef Wahbi.

External links[]

• "Youssef Wahby Dead at 84; Dean of the Egyptian Stage", The New York Times, October 17, 1982.