He was the face of epic romance, the smoldering star of Hollywood’s golden age — yet behind the glamorous image, Omar Sharif was quietly spiraling toward financial ruin.
The legendary actor, immortalized in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, died in 2015 nearly penniless, despite being one of the most recognizable movie stars of the 1960s.
Sharif’s downfall began early — hidden inside the very contracts that launched him to fame. When he signed on for Lawrence of Arabia, the then-unknown actor agreed to what would later be considered shockingly low pay. Producer Sam Spiegel locked him into a seven-picture deal worth just $15,000 per film, convincing Sharif that the salary was industry standard.
Those seven films turned out to be some of the biggest titles of the era, including Doctor Zhivago, Funny Girl, Night of the Generals, and McKenna’s Gold. While Sharif became an international heartthrob, his earnings never matched his star power — a financial trap he would never fully escape.
The chaos didn’t stop at his contracts. The making of Doctor Zhivago itself was almost farcical. Shot in Spain, the production was blindsided by a winter heat wave so extreme that fake snow had to be manufactured using marble dust and bed sheets. Co-star Julie Christie later recalled sweating in fur coats under blistering heat as the multimillion-dollar production stalled.
Off-screen, Sharif’s personal life unraveled even faster than his finances. A compulsive gambler, he was a world-class bridge player who openly admitted to delaying film shoots so he could attend tournaments. He even wrote a syndicated newspaper column about the game — all while his debts quietly piled up.
In brutally honest interviews later in life, Sharif confessed he spent decades making films he despised simply to stay afloat. He admitted he was constantly chasing losses, always one paycheck behind. The humiliation cut deep — he once said his own grandchildren mocked the low-budget movies he was forced to take.
Then came the scandals. In 2003, Sharif was handed a suspended jail sentence after head-butting a police officer during a heated argument in a Paris casino. Two years later, he made headlines again after striking a parking attendant in Beverly Hills, landing him in court and forcing him into anger management.
His body paid the price as well. Sharif reportedly smoked up to 100 cigarettes a day before undergoing triple bypass surgery in 1992. Though he quit smoking afterward, his health continued to decline. He suffered a heart attack in 1994, followed by further cardiac issues that ultimately claimed his life on July 10, 2015.
Romantically, Sharif lived just as intensely. He was linked to countless women and carried on a highly publicized affair with Barbra Streisand during the filming of Funny Girl. Yet despite the glamour, he always insisted his one true love was his first wife, Egyptian film star Faten Hamama, whom he married in 1954 and divorced in 1974. They shared one son, Tareq El-Sharif.
After Sharif’s death, his son revealed another heartbreaking truth: the actor had been battling Alzheimer’s disease in his final years.
Once hailed as the world’s most romantic leading man, Omar Sharif’s life ended far from the fantasy he portrayed on screen — a dramatic rise and devastating fall that exposed the brutal cost of fame, addiction, and Hollywood illusion.
10 years is too soon to start dragging the dead through the mud.