Mohamed Awad

An Egyptian comedian, he was born in the Abbasiya neighborhood in Cairo on June 12, 1932, under the name Mohamed Mohamed Awad Youssef, and he died in Cairo on February 27, 1997, as a result of cancer. Mohamed Awad married his university classmate, the strength of hearts, Abdel-Wahab Mazen, who is of Turkish origin on her mother’s side, and gave birth to his three children, the choreographer “Atef,” the director “Adel,” and the actor “Alaa.” His wife could not bear his death, so she died at the age of forty. Mohamed Awad was born into a simple family from the Sharkia Governorate. After the death of his parents, he took responsibility for his sisters, daughters. He was still in the stages of education. His hobbies included scouting, playing football, and traveling. He wished to join the Maritime College, but he joined the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, Philosophy Department, and graduated from it in 1957. He joined the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and graduated from it in 1962. Awad participated in the school’s acting team, and when he joined the College of Arts, he formed a theater troupe that was adopted by his college professor, the great writer Anis Mansour. The direction was supervised by the artist Siraj Mounir, and he played many of the roles of Naguib Al-Rihani. He joined the Al-Rihani troupe while he was still a student, with a salary of 7 pounds per month. He played the roles of the artist Adel Khairy, the hero of the troupe, when he was ill. Then, after his graduation, he joined the free theater troupe, in addition to his presence in the Al-Rihani troupe. In the 1950s, he participated in the radio program An Hour for Your Heart, where he presented the character “Al-Alit” and his voice became distinctive to listeners. With the formation of television theater groups in the 1960s, the artist Abdel Moneim Madbouly included him in the lead role in the play “Gulfdan Hanem” by Ali Ahmed Bakathir. He played the role of “Atef Al-Ashmouni” and it was a great success. With its broadcast on television, he became a familiar face and gained wide fame, as he followed it with successful plays such as “Origin and Picture.” “Singer of Emotions,” “Al-Abit,” and “Nimra 2 Yasab,” the latter of which was an artistic creativity and great effort, as he performed 4 characters in the play, and achieved unprecedented revenues, becoming Awad a theater icon, and his plays reached 80 plays. As for cinema, he began participating in it in 1960 with the movie Family Tree in supporting roles until the mid-sixties, when he began to bear the responsibility of starring in films. He even presented 30 films during the sixties, and in the seventies, Awad became the owner of the largest cinematic share of all the comedy stars at that time, and he worked with major stars, especially the star Souad Hosni, with whom he participated in many films. Then he formed a production company and presented many films of his own production. He also participated in radio and television series and became famous for the role of “Sharara.” In the TV series “The Tower of Fortune” in 1978.