Last Friday, Egyptian dancer and actress Hayatem died at the age of 69. Born in 1949 as Soheir Hassan Mohamed in Alexandria, Hayatem embarked on her artistic journey as a professional belly dancer in Alexandria in the 1960s, beginning to act later on her arrival to Cairo. She acted alongside Nour Al-Sherif and Soad Hosni in Gharib Fi Bayti (A Stranger in My House, 1983) directed by Samir Seif and starred opposite Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Samir Ghanem, Soheir Ramzi and the popular singer Ahmed Adawiya in Al-Banat Aayza Eih (What Girls Want, 1980) and Waraa Al-Shams (Beyond the Sun, 1978). In recent years she starred alongside Mona Zaki in Youssri Nasrallah's Ehki Ya Scheherazade (Tell it, Scheherazade, 2009). She also made a number of notable television appearances, including Zuhra Wa Azwagha Al-Khamsa (Zuhra and Her Five Husbands, 2010). Sharaf On the same day, actor Mohamed Sharaf passed away due to long-standing heart trouble at the age of 55. Born in Alexandria in 1963, Sharaf acted on stage before making his name in television, notably in the role of Sambo alongside Salah Al-Saadani, Hoda Sultan and Hisham Selim in screenwriter Osama Anwar Okasha's popular 1994 series Arabesque. Sharaf often played the role of the villain and the small-time criminal, in which capacity he supported comedian Mohamed Heneidi in films like Belya wi Demagho Al-Alia (High Beliya, 2000), Askar fil Moaskar (Askar in the Camp, 2003) and Ramadan Mabrouk Abul-Alamein Hamouda (2008); he also supported Ahmed Helmi in Zaki Chan (2005), Zarf Tarek (Urgent Situation, 2006), Asef Ala Al-Izaag (Sorry for the Inconvenience, 2008) and X-Large (2011). In 2008, he gave one of his memorable performances in Sameh Abdel-Aziz's Cabaret.
