Naguib el-Rihani (Arabic: نجيب الريحاني; January 21, 1889 in Cairo[1][2][3] – June 8, 1949 in Alexandria) was an Egyptian film and stage actor.
Biography
Born in Bab El Shereya, Cairo to a middle class family.[4] His father, an Assyrian Christian[5] who worked as a horse expert and a trader, his mother was a Coptic Egyptian woman from Cairo.[4] He was one of three sons that his parents would have together. He was educated in the French Catholic school "Les Frères" in Cairo.
El-Rihani had a turbulent marriage with Badia Masabni, an actress and businesswoman who settled in Cairo after living within the United States for years, 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.[6]
