Veteran Egyptian actress Nadia Lotfy passes away at 83 after long struggle with illness in 2019.
Lotfy was born in Cairo as Paula Shafik on January 3, 1937 to an Egyptian accountant father and a Polish mother.
In her prime, she was one of the most prominent stars in the Egyptian cinema's "Golden Age".
Lotfy began acting as a hobby; when she was 10 years old she participated in a play at her school and provided an outstanding performance.
At the age of 24 Lotfy made her screen debut in 1958, at the same time late Egyptian international star Omar Sharif was the reigning king of Egyptian cinema, and his wife, Egyptian superstar Faten Hamama, its queen.
The star couple had just had a smash hit with the film "La Anam" (Insomnia) with Hamama as "Nadia Lotfy", a willful teen who destroys her father's marriage, so Paula decided to appropriate the name.
The young actress Nadia at that time was discovered by director Ramsis Naguib and she took her first role in the black & white drama ‘’Sultan’’ in 1958.
Her second picture was a smaller role in one of the film landmarks of its time, “Cairo Station”.
In 1963, she played a Frankish woman warrior of the Crusade era, donning full armor to go into battle against her Christian-Arab lover, in “Naser Salah el Dine” (occasionally shown on US TV as Saladin and the Great Crusades).
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