In memoriam: Ahmed Mazhar's equestrian portrait lingers on

CAIRO – 9 May 2017: From an army officer to The Knight of Egyptian Cinema, this is how Ahmed Mazhar’s career shifted after later President Gamal Abdel-Nasser, a college colleague and a close friend of his, encouraged him to take the pursue a career in the cinema.

The Knight of the Egyptian Cinema died on May 8, 2002 after suffering from severe pneumonia at the age of 85 years old, boasting a history of filmography totaling 135 films.

Ahmed Hafez Mazhar was born on October 8,1917 in Abbassia, Cairo, where Naguib Mahfouz and Mohammed Abdel Wahab were his neighbours. He was a father of three girls- Nivin, Eman, Reham, and an only son Shehab.

“The Knight of Egyptian Cinema” broke onto the silverscreen on the back of Salah El-Din El Aiouby’s horse- a role for which he was chosen for chosen on account of his riding skills and his proper pronunciation of classical Arabic. He was later able to steal the hearts of many women with his role in “Rudda Qalby” movie based on Yusuf Sibai's novel, engraving his name everafter into the history of Egyptian cinema.

Mazhar was not only “The Knight of Egyptian Cinema” but a real “knight” too. He founded El-Forsan School as well, and also participated in World War II and The Palestine War of 1948. He was called “The Prince” in the army, for his good-looks and ethics, in addition to speaking multiple foreign languages and his knowledge of almost every field in life.

The Prince performed with the beauties of Egyptian Cinema-Faten Hamama, Nadia Lutfi and Soad Hosny. The three of them never appeared together on-screen, but they travelled together to The Film Festival in the Soviet Union in 1964, representing The Egyptian Cinema Delegation.

One of the hard experiences that Mazhar had in life was his friend’s death. He was shot accidentally by Mazhar’s son who had forgotten to remove the bullets from his gun which resulted in his death while he was playing with Mazhar’s son. This accident led to his divorce as he kept blaming his wife for the incident.

The only time Mazhar cried on air was in Mofeed Fawzy’s TV Show, when the government wanted to take off half of his villa as part of their plan in modifying roads, offering him a sum of money in compensation. Mazhar refused saying that this will affect his planting of the rare plants in the villa’s garden.


His most popular films are: “El Ayedi El Naema” (Soft Hands), “El Ataba El Khadra”, “El Naser Salah El-Din”, “Doa El Karawan”, while“Atabet El-Setat 1994” was his last film.