Zaki Rostom

Zaki Rostom (Egyptian Arabic: زكي رستم) (1903–1972) was an Egyptian actor. A method actor known for portraying intimidating and often asocial villains, Zaki is regarded as one of the influential and important actors of Egyptian cinema.

Zaki Rostom was born on March 5, 1903, to an aristocratic family of prominent position in Egypt, where his father and grandfather were Pashas of Egypt, and his grandfather also served in the Egyptian army. His father was appointed minister in the era of Khedive Ismail, and died when Zaki was still a young boy.

He was brought up by a friend of his father, Mustafa Nageeb, the father of the Egyptian artist Soliman Nageeb (Egyptian Arabic: سليمان نجيب

(1892–1955), where a strong relationship started between him and some artists of the theater at that time, including fellow actor Abdel Wareth Assar (1894–1982).

His hobby of acting started when he was a student in the baccalaureate; in 1924 he joined the National theater group, and in 1925 joined the Ramses theater group.

Rostom's best known roles include an aristocrat tyrant husband in the Egyptian adaptation of Anna Karenina; Ezz El Dine Zulficar's The River of Love (1960), a powerful brutal landlord in Youssef Chahine's Struggle in the Valley (1954), a bully merchant opposite Farid Shawki in The Tough (1957), a sneaky drug lord in Pier No. 5 (1957), and the loving father opposite Salah Zulfikar who played the villain role in Me and My Daughters (1961).

He was chosen by the Paris Match French magazine in the mid 1940s as one of the best ten international actors.

In the last 10 years of his life he suffered from hearing impairment and severe depression. He lived in isolation and spent his time reading until he suffered a heart attack and died on February 16 of 1972 at the age of 68 years.