Naguib el-Rihani


Naguib el-Rihani was an Egyptian actor. He was born in Bab El Shereya, Cairo, Egypt to an Chaldean Iraqi father from the city of Mosul in Iraq by the name of Elias El Rihani who worked as a horse expert and trader and eventually settled in Cairo, where he met and married Naguib's mother, a Coptic Egyptian woman from Cairo,. He was educated in the French school "Les Frères" in Cairo.

Biography

el-Rihani had a turbulent marriage with Badia Masabni, a Levantine actress and dancer who settled in Cairo, and established her famous cabaret, "Casino Badia." They separated before his death. He died at the age of 60 years in Cairo of typhus, while filming his last film, "Ghazal Al Banat".
He established his own theatrical group in the late 1910s, in Cairo, and partnered with his lifelong friend, Badeih Khairy, in adapting several French theatre hits to the Egyptian stage, and later to the cinema.
A great comedian both on stage and in films, he is considered "The Father of Comedy" in Egypt. Fuad Al Mohandes, the great Egyptian comedian of modern times, acknowledged Naguib Al Rihani's effect on him and his style in acting.
On 21 January 2016, Google Doodle commemorated his 127th birthday.

List of plays