Nadia Lotfi

Nadia Lutfi or Nadia Lotfi (; born Paula Mohamed Mostafa Shafik ; 3 January 1937 – 4 February 2020), was an Egyptian actress. During the apex of her career, she was one of the most popular actresses of Egyptian cinema's golden age.

Early life Nadia Lutfi was born in Cairo as Paula Mohamed Mostafa Shafiq to an Egyptian family. Her father, Mohamed, and her mother, Fatma Khayri, named her daughter Paula after the name of a kind nun she met in the hospital. The family of Nadia Lutfi was Muslim.

Career Paula began acting as a hobby; when she was 10 years old she participated in a play at her school and did very well. When the 24-year-old was about to make her screen debut in 1958, 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 with Hamama as "Nadia Lotfy", a willful teen who destroys her father's marriage. Paula adopted the forename and a variation of the surname of the character as her own.

Under her newly changed name, the young actress was spotted by director Ramses Naguib. Her first film role was in a modest black & white drama, Soultan, 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 Isa Elawwam her Christian-Arab lover, (role was played by Egyptian bankable star Salah Zulfikar), in El-Nasser Salah Ad-Din (occasionally shown on television in the United States as Saladin and the Great Crusades) (1963). In Lil-Rigal Faqat (For Men Only) (1964) by Mahmoud Zulfikar, Lutfi and co-star Soad Hosny played women geologists who, denied employment, respond by disguising themselves as men and going to work, where they find they must suppress their romantic instincts to sustain the disguise. In the mid-1960s, she starred in two films that were based on stories by Nobel-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, just a few years following the publication of his widely banned novel Awlad Haretna (اولاد حارتنا) which symbolized God and Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, Children of Gebelawi. Lutfi finished the decade starring in Abi foq al-Shagara (My Father Over The Tree) (1969) as a nightclub dancer who beds a much younger man, then discovers that she once knew his father equally well.

In the 1970s, her career wound down as Egypt's "Golden Age" of films drew to a close. Her most prominent films include Regal Bila Malameh (Featureless Men) in 1972, where she played a role of a night girl; the film was a commercial hit. She also starred in El-Okhwa El-A'daa (Enemy Brothers) (1974), and Badiaa Masabni (1975) by Hassan El Imam. She also starred in Where Do You Hide the Sun? (1980). Having made close to 50 films in the first 11 years of her career, she only made three in the decade that followed, and did not work in films after 1981.

In 2014, the Cairo International Film Festival paid tribute to Nadia Lutfi by using her photo on the Festival's official poster for its 36th edition.

Honours Country Honour Order of Sciences and Arts

Selected filmography Year Title Egyptian Arabic Title 1958 Sultan سلطان 1959 Forever Yours حب للأبد 1961 The Sun Will Never Set لا تطفئ الشمس 1961 With Memories مع الذكريات 1961 Seven Girls السبع بنات 1961 Half Virgin نص عذراء 1961 My Only Love حبى الوحيد 1961 Giants of Seas عمالقة البحار 1962 Judge of Love قاضى الغرام 1962 Schoolgirl's Diary مذكرات تلميذه 1962 The Sins الخطايا 1962 Without an Appointment من غير ميعاد 1962 Struggle of Giants صراع العمالقه 1962 Days Without Love ايام بلا حب 1962 Come Back Mother عودى يا امى 1963 Years of Love سنوات الحب 1963 Saladin the Victorious الناصر صلاح الدين 1963 Dark Glasses النضاره السوده 1963 Marriage in Danger جواز فى خطر 1963 Bachelor's Life حياة عازب 1964 Between Two Palaces بين القصرين 1964 Unforgettable Love حب لا انساه 1964 Searcher for Love الباحثه عن الحب 1964 Girls Revolution ثورة البنات 1964 Youth, Love, and Merriment شباب و حب و مرح 1964 Leave Me with Tears دعنى و الدموع 1964 Escaper from Life هارب من الحياه 1965 The Impossible المستحيل 1965 Unfaithfulness الخاينه 1965 Private Teacher مدرس خصوصى 1965 For Men Only للرجال فقط 1966 Enemy of Woman عدو المرأه 1966 A Widow is Required مطلوب ارمله 1966 Life is Sweet الحياه حلوه 1967 Long Nights الليالى الطويله 1967 Palace of Longing قصر الشوق 1967 Crazy's Romances غراميات مجنون 1967 Crime in Calm District جريمه فى الحى الهادى 1967 When We Love عندما نحب 1967 Quails and Autumn السمان و الخريف 1967 Nasty Girl بنت شقيه 1968 How to Rob Millionaire كيف تسرق مليونير 1968 3 Stories ٣ قصص 1968 Days of Love ايام الحب 1969 Pickpocket Despite His will نشال رغم انفه 1969 Secretary of Mama سكرتير ماما 1969 My Father Above the Tree ابى فوق الشجره 1969 The Night of Counting the Years الموميا 1970 They Were Days كانت ايام 1970 Kinsman الرجل المناسب 1971 Lovers of Life عشاق الحياه 1971 Gentle, Gallant and Greedyالظريف و الشهم و الطماع 1971 Confessions of a Woman اعترافات امرأه 1972 Featureless Men رجال بلا ملامح 1972 Visitor الزائره 1972 Barrier الحاجز 1972 Lights of City اضواء المدينه 1972 Wild Flowers زهور بريه 1973 Armies of the Sun جيوش الشمس 1974 Bottom of City قاع المدينه 1974 Enemies Brothers الاخوه الاعداء 1975 Who Can Overcome Azizaمين يقدر علا عزيزه 1975 On Transparent Papersعلا ورق سلوڤان 1975 Never, I'll Not Return ابدا لن اعود 1975 Badi'a Masabni بديعه مصابنى 1976 Lover of Another حبيبة غيرى 1976 Home Without affection بيت بلا حنان 1977 And She Fell in Sea of Honey و سقطت فى بحر العسل 1978 Behind the Sunورا الشمس 1978 Journey inside a Woman رحله داخل امرأه 1978 Elaqmarالاقمر 1980 Where Do You Hide the Sun? اين تخبئون الشمس؟ 1982 Bloody Fates الأقدار الداميه 1986 House of Poisoned Family منزل العائله المسمومه 1988 Legitimate Father الأب الشرعى

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