Fatima Rushdi (; November 15, 1908 – January 23, 1996) was an Egyptian actress, singer, film director, and producer who was one of the pioneers of

Egyptian cinema The Egyptian film industry is today based mainly in Cairo, which is sometimes referred to as Hollywood on the Nile, Hollywood of the Middle East or Hollywood of the East, despite having its beginnings in the city of Alexandria in the early 20t ...

Early life

Born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

, Fatima Rushdi moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

at 14 to become an actress. Without any formal training, and speaking only Egyptian Arabic, she started her own theatrical troupe in 1926 and travelled throughout North Africa. Theater director Aziz Eid fell in love with her and enabled her to learn to read and write. She became known as the "Sarah Bernhardt of the Orient" for reprising many of

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

's famous roles, including Mark Anthony in ''Julius Caesar''.

Career

In the late 1920s, Rushdi went on acting tours abroad. She acted in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, and in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. She also sailed to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and acted in

Santos Santos may refer to: People *Santos (surname) * Santos Balmori Picazo (1899–1992), Spanish-Mexican painter * Santos Benavides (1823–1891), Confederate general in the American Civil War Places *Santos, São Paulo, a municipality in São Paulo ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, and

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Her first film appearance was in

Ibrahim Lama Ibrahim may refer to: * Ibrahim (name), including a list of people with the name ** Abraham in Islam * Ibrahim (surah), a surah of the Qur'an * Ibrahim (play), ''Ibrahim'' (play) or ''Ibrahim The Illustrious Bassa'', a 1676 tragedy by Elkanah Set ...

's ''Faji`a Fawq Al-Haram'' in 1928. In 1933, she directed her first and only film, ''al-Zawaj'', which premiered in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. No surviving copies are known, and in her 1970 memoir, she claimed to have burned the completed film. In the film, she starred as a woman pushed into an unhappy marriage by her father who dies tragically at the end. She acted in several films by

Kamal Selim Kamal may refer to: *Kamal (name), a given name and surname with multiple origins **Kamal (director) (Kamaluddin Mohammed Majeed), Indian film director **Kamal Haasan (born 1954), or Kamal, Indian actor, filmmaker, singer and politician *Kamal (na ...

, including the realist film '' The Will'' ''al-`Azima'' (1939), where she played a young working-class girl falling in love with the neighbour's son. Her last screen appearance was in 1955, in a secondary role in

Ahmed Diaa Eddine Ahmed Diaa Eddine (1912–1976) was an Egyptian film director. He directed over 30 films and studied at the Leonardo da Vinci Institute in Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorat ...

's ''Da`uni A`ish'' / ''Let Me Live''. In the 1960s, Rushdi and Hussien Pasha Ghannam hosted a salon for filmmakers and students at the

Higher Institute of Cinema The Higher Institute Of Cinema (), also known as the Cairo Higher Institute of Cinema, is a film school in Cairo, Egypt. It is one of several institutes making up the Egyptian Academy of Arts. It is the oldest film school in the Middle East and ...

Later life

After several films in secondary roles, Rushdi retired from acting in the late 1960s. The limelight receded from her with age and the loss of health and wealth. Fatma_Roushdi

She was living in her last days in a room in one of the hotels in

downtown Cairo Downtown Cairo ( "middle of town") is the colloquial name given to the 19th-century western expansion of Egypt's capital Cairo, between the historic medieval Cairo, and the Nile, which became the commercial center of the city during the 20th c ...

, until the Egyptian newspaper

Al-Wafd ''Al-Wafd'' ( meaning ''the Mission'' in English) is the daily newspaper published by the Wafd party in Giza, Egypt. History and profile ''Al-Wafd'' was launched in 1984. As the house organ of the liberal-democratic neo-Wafd party, the paper is ...

revealed her miserable life, and

Farid Shawqi Farid Shawqi Mohammad Abdou Shawqi () (July 30, 1920 in El Sayyeda Zainab – July 27, 1998 in Maadi); known as Farid Shawqi () was an Egyptian actor, screenwriter and film producer. He acted in 351 films, 27 plays and 17 television series; wr ...

intervened with the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

to provide her with health insurance and provide adequate housing. And that actually happened. She got an apartment, but fate did not give her time to enjoy what the state offered her. She died alone, leaving behind a huge legacy of more than 200 plays and 16 films, and a life she lived long and wide during which she lived with a generation of theater giants and moviegoers. She died on January 23, 1996, corresponding to Ramadan 3, 1416 AH, at the age of 87 years.

Selected filmography

* 1928: A Tragedy on the Pyramids * 1928: Under the Sky of Egypt * 1932: Marriage * 1936: The Fugitive * 1939: The Price of Happiness * 1939: The Will * 1941: Forebear * 1943: The Worker * 1944: The Straight Path * 1945: Girls of the Countryside * 1945: Gypsy City * 1946: The Love of the Sheikhs * 1946: Storms * 1946: The Reckless * 1948: The Sad Countryside * 1955: Let Me Live * 1955: Body

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushdi, Fatima 1908 births 1996 deaths Egyptian actresses Egyptian film directors Egyptian film producers Egyptian women film directors Women film pioneers

Early life

Career

Later life

Selected filmography

See also

References