Courtesy of Google.
In celebration of what would have been Hind Rostom’s 87th birthday today, Google Doodle has unveiled an artistic ode to the late Egyptian actress. The Google Doodle is an illustration that depicts the beauty icon, who is known as the Arab world’s Marilyn Monroe, wearing her trademark blonde locks in loose finger-waves, bold red lips, and with her signature arched eyebrows. Upon clicking on the illustration, readers are redirected to a virtual tour of everything about the star, who passed away in 2011.
Often referred to as “the first lady of Egyptian cinema”, the screen siren was born Nariman Hussein Murad in Alexandria. She started her career at the age of 16 with the film Azhaar wa Ashwak, however, it wasn’t until her role in the 1955 film Banat el Lail, when her career truly kicked off. She would go on to star in more than 80 films, including Youssef Chahine’s internationally-acclaimed Cairo Station, Love Rumour, and Struggle on the Nile, dismantling the stereotypical gender role of female leading ladies in Egyptian cinema, before retiring in 1979 — at the peak of her highly-successful career. Her reasoning? She was determined to be remembered at her best. So determined that no amount of money or single project was able to coax her out of retirement. In 2002, she even turned down an offer of more than 1 million Egyptian pounds to dramatize her life, famously stating: “My life is not for sale.”
Happy birthday Hind Rostom!
