Friday, 2 May 2008

"Al Cinderella"


Suad Mohammad Husni El-Baba
(or Souad Hosni or Soad Hosny) (Arabic: محمد حسني سعاد)
Souad Hosni was born in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt (26 Jan 1942 - June 22, 2001 London,UK) was a famous Egyptian actress.

Souad was known as the Cinderella of Egyptian cinema and one of the most influential people in the Arabic art world.
She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991 , but most of which were shot in the 60s and 70s.
Her final screen appearance was in the 1991 film "The Shepherd and the Women", directed by her ex-husband Ali Badrakhan.

Souad was born in Cairo in 1942, to a Syrian family background. She was the 10th sister from 17 brothers and sisters.







Her father, Mohammad Hosny was a notable Arabic calligrapher ; the half sister of Nagat el Saghira one of the great Egyptian singer; her brother Ezz Eddin Hosny was a famous music composer and her uncle Anwar El-Baba was a comedian actor. Souad started her acting career since a very young age, she used to take part in the famous radio children program Baba Sharo, were she got known for singing the song

‘Okht El Quamar’ ( Sister of the Moon).
The writer, director, and actor Abd El Rahman El Khamissy, who was a friend of her family, discovered her acting talent, he wanted to glaze this natural talent, and so he handed the mission of oral performance to Ibrahim Saafan, the Arabic language teacher at this time. He had had in mind screening the famous popular radio episode/series ‘Hassan We Na’ima’, and he wanted to present his discovery Soad Hosny as Na’ima. The film was produced and directed by Henry Barakat in 1959.
Souad’s name started to glory amongst famous names at that time, belonging to the generation of Faten Hamama, and Magda El Sabahi. Her spontaneous performance in addition to her funny sense of humor and liveliness gave her the lead opportunity. She presented a variety of dramatic roles. She played the role of the girl looking for her right to choose her partner, as in films “AL SET AL NAZRA”(1968), and “BABA AYEZ KEDA”(1968), the liberal girl as in “AL THALATHA YOHEBOUNAHA”(1965), and “AL ASHQIAA AL THALATHA”(1962), and comes the stage of the historical and political films “AL QUAHERA 30"(1966) for great director Salah Abu Seif, “GHEROUB WA SHEROUK ”(1970), “AL KARNAK (1975)”, “ALA MAN NOTLIQ AL ROSSASS ”(1975), the social roles as in “AL ZAWJA AL THANIA" (1967), roles of great dramatic dose like “BE AR AL HERMAN”(1969), folkloric roles “SHAFIKA WE METWALLI”(1977), commercial light movies “KHALLI BALAK MIN ZUZU” (1972), and “AMIRA HOBI ANA”(1975).
She obtained the domain of the Cinderella of the golden screen with no competitors.



Souad’s psychological, and human nature was different from the stars at that time, this might be due to her suffering as a child from the divorce of her parents, and having to live in two atmospheres and houses at a certain age. She was always been looking for containment which she missed .
Souad was married for twelve years to film director Ali Badrakhan, whom she became pregnant from and, shortly after, miscarried. She later married Zaki Fateen Abdel Wahab, the son of Fateen Abdel Wahab (film director) and Leila Mourad. Hosny's marriage was to director Salah Kurim. Her last husband was to screenwriter Maher Awad. And comes her sarcastic journey with sickness in mid eighties, when she traveled to London for treatment that lasted more than 13 years, without any convincing diagnosis to the illness she had. We were all surprised to hear about her tragic death......
Souad died in London, England in 2001. This occurred after she had suffered severely from an unknown illness for five years. Hosny had sought treatment in the Uk after sustaining a spinal
fracture which had forced her to leave Egypt.
In 2001, she was found on the sidewalk below the building in which she was living; she had fallen from the balcony of her apartment. Courts in England could not decide whether Hosny had committed suicide or had been killed by her care-taker. In 2002, however, British courts decided that the cause of Hosny's death had been a suicide, although substantial evidence suggested she had been murdered when she was found such as the hole that has been cut in the netting on the balcony.




Prosecuters argued that a woman on the verge of suicide would not have been in the right state of mind to cut through steel netting. Also, while one slipper was still on her foot, the other was found in her bathroom suggesting she has been dragged to the balcony. Also, it has been noted that Hosny has recorded her diaries on tape in preparation for the publication of her biography. This is cited as a motive for murder as the tapes went missing after her death and also because they were said to contain material that would have hurt important public figures in Egypt. Also, Suad Hosni's death was the third in a series of Egyptian notable death; all had died in the same way. Hosny was under therapy for depression at the time. She died on AbdelHalim Hafez's birthday – one of the many people who influenced her on screen and in her real life.

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