Omar Sharif, the dashing, Egyptian-born actor who was one of the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1960s, with memorable roles in Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Funny Girl, has died. He was 83.

Sharif suffered a heart attack on Friday afternoon in a hospital in Cairo, his agent said.

It was announced in May that he had Alzheimer's disease.

With the global success of David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, starring Peter O'Toole, in 1962, Sharif became the first Arab actor to achieve worldwide fame, thanks to his charismatic presence in the epic film – and the Oscar nomination he drew because of it.

In its wake he very quickly became a busy Hollywood actor: Sharif made three films in 1964, including Behold a Pale Horse and The Yellow Rolls Royce and three in 1965, including his first lead role in an English-language production, as the title character in Lean's Dr. Zhivago, for which he won a Golden Globe.-Reuters