Omar Sharif: When Hollywood’s Leading Man Became Bridge’s Greatest Ambassador
Most people remember Omar Sharif as the smoldering romantic lead in Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. But ask anyone in the bridge world about him, and you’ll hear a different story—one about a man whose passion for cards rivaled his talent for cinema, who turned down movie roles to play in tournaments, and who once said, “Acting may be my business, but bridge is my passion.”
He wasn’t just a celebrity dabbler, either. Omar Sharif was legitimately world-class, ranked among the top 50 players globally at his peak, and his efforts to popularize the game changed bridge forever.
The Actor Who Couldn’t Put Down the Cards
Born Michel Demitri Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt in 1932, Sharif didn’t discover bridge until he was already an actor. At age 21, he was killing time on a movie set when he spotted a bridge book lying around. He picked it up out of curiosity and became instantly hooked. Within years, he’d gone from beginner to expert, playing both rubber and duplicate bridge in Cairo’s competitive scene.
By 1962, when “Lawrence of Arabia” made him an international star, Sharif had a problem. He was contractually obligated to spend 18 months filming in the desert—without any bridge. He later called it one of the most difficult periods of his life. Not because of the harsh conditions or the grueling schedule, but because he couldn’t play cards.
That’s when you know someone has the bug.
Leading Egypt to the World Stage
In 1964, fresh off his breakthrough role, Sharif did something unusual for a Hollywood star: he captained the United Arab Republic’s team at the World Bridge Olympiad. The team finished 21st—respectable, but not spectacular. Four years later, he captained Egypt again at the 1968 Olympiad, and once more they placed 21st.
But Sharif wasn’t satisfied being just a national-level player. He wanted to learn from the best, and he was willing to use his fame and fortune to make it happen.
The Omar Sharif Bridge Circus: Barnstorming for Bridge
In 1967, Sharif launched one of the most ambitious promotional efforts bridge has ever seen: the Omar Sharif Bridge Circus. Think of it as the Harlem Globetrotters of bridge—a traveling exhibition that brought world-class play to audiences who’d never experienced it.
The lineup read like a who’s who of bridge royalty. Sharif recruited members of the legendary Italian Blue Team, including Benito Garozzo (considered by many the greatest player of all time), Pietro Forquet, and Giorgio Belladonna. His Egyptian compatriot Leon Yallouze handled coordination, while the French expert Claude Delmouly rounded out the squad.
They wheeled through Europe playing exhibition matches against local experts, drawing thousands of spectators who watched the action on BRIDGE-O-RAMA—a new technology (predecessor to modern VuGraph) that displayed the bidding and card play on television monitors. Sharif played the sophisticated Blue Team Club bidding system, holding his own alongside his expert teammates.
In 1968, the Circus barnstormed across Canada and the United States, accompanied by the Dallas Aces (America’s top professional team). They played friendly matches in city after city, with Sharif’s star power attracting crowds who might never have attended a bridge event otherwise.
The goal wasn’t just to showcase great bridge—it was to prove that bridge could be exciting, glamorous, and television-worthy. Sharif wanted to turn it into a spectator sport, and for a brief moment, he almost succeeded.
High Stakes in London: When £1 Per Point Meant Business
In 1970, Sharif staged what bridge writer Tony Forrester called an attempt “to present bridge as a rich, exciting spectacle; to break through into television and so bring the game within the reach of millions.”
The setting was London’s Piccadilly Hotel. The format was an 80-rubber match. The opponents were British experts Jeremy Flint and Jonathan Cansino. The stakes? £1 per point—absolutely massive even by today’s standards.
The Circus won by 5,470 points, netting Sharif £7,000 in winnings. But here’s the kicker: he spent over £100,000 producing a film of the match that never aired publicly. Sharif took a huge financial loss, but he didn’t care. He believed in bridge enough to bankroll its promotion out of his own pocket.
The Writing Life: Bringing Bridge to the Masses
Throughout the 1970s and beyond, Sharif co-wrote a syndicated bridge column with Tannah Hirsch for the Chicago Tribune. The column eventually reached millions of readers worldwide, making Sharif one of the most widely-read bridge writers in history—even though most readers probably picked up the paper for his celebrity status and stayed for the actual bridge content.
He also authored several books:
- Omar Sharif’s Life in Bridge (1983)
- Play More Bridge With Omar Sharif (1994)
- Omar Sharif Talks Bridge (2004, co-authored with David Bird)
The books weren’t ghostwritten fluff, either. They contained genuine bridge analysis, memorable deals, and stories from his years at the table. Sharif understood the game deeply and could explain it clearly—a rare combination.
Playing Style: The Competitive Fire
What made Sharif successful at the table? By all accounts, he was fiercely competitive, mathematically inclined (he’d studied mathematics and physics at Cairo University), and blessed with excellent card sense.
He played the Blue Team Club system—a complex, relay-based approach that was cutting-edge in the 1960s and 70s. This wasn’t a system for casual players. It required precision, discipline, and a partnership that could communicate through subtle bidding nuances. That Sharif mastered it while maintaining a full-time acting career speaks to his dedication.
His regular partnerships included Leon Yallouze from Egypt and Claude Delmouly from France. In later years, he played with top French expert Paul Chemla in London and Paris.
But Sharif’s competitive nature had a dark side. He once admitted: “There was a point when I became too keen. It was obsessive. I would play all the tournaments. I would not make certain films if they interfered with my bridge schedule. I dreamt about cards.”
He turned down movie roles for bridge tournaments. Read that again. One of the most bankable leading men in cinema was choosing card games over six-figure paychecks.
The Senior Years: One More Run
In 1997, after years away from competitive bridge, Sharif returned for the Bermuda Bowl in Tunisia—the first time the world championship was held in an Arab country. He played on a transnational team with French, German, and Lebanese players, finishing 11th.
Two years later, at the 1999 European Championships in Malta, he joined a French senior team that finished second. When the top three teams were all French, organizers decided to skip playing “La Marseillaise” three times. Instead, they played the theme from Doctor Zhivago. The crowd went wild.
In 2000, at Maastricht, Sharif played for Egypt’s senior team one final time, finishing ninth.
The Addiction Confession
Also in 2000, Sharif made a stunning announcement: he was quitting bridge entirely. After decades of passionate play, he’d come to see his beloved game differently.
“I didn’t want to be a slave to any passion anymore,” he told the press. “I gave up card playing altogether, even bridge and gambling. I had too many passions—bridge, horses, gambling. I want to live a different kind of life, be with my family more because I didn’t give them enough time.”
It was a heartbreaking admission from someone who’d done so much for the game. The man who’d barnstormed the world promoting bridge now saw it as something he needed to escape.
He continued licensing his name to bridge software and wrote one more book in 2004, but his competitive days were over.
Legacy: More Than Just a Famous Face
When Omar Sharif died in Cairo on July 10, 2015, at age 83, bridge players around the world mourned. The World Bridge Federation published a tribute. Bridge forums filled with memories. Players who’d watched him in the 1960s and 70s shared stories of his brilliance at the table.
But his legacy extends beyond his tournament results or his writing. Sharif proved that bridge could attract mainstream attention. He showed that the game had glamour, excitement, and drama—if only someone charismatic enough would champion it.
The Bridge Circus, the high-stakes matches, the syndicated columns—these were all attempts to pull bridge out of the back rooms and onto the world stage. Some succeeded. Some failed. But Sharif tried harder than almost anyone to make the world fall in love with bridge the way he had.
In His Own Words
On his dual careers:
“Acting may be my business, but bridge is my passion.”
On the pursuit of perfection:
“Bridge is like golf; you can never achieve perfection. You get better, but because it is a game of partnership there is no way you can get there. You need to perfect a system between you and your partner.”
On obsession:
“I was driven by the competition. I was good at it and I wanted to be perfect.”
On walking away:
“I didn’t want to be a slave to any passion anymore.”
The Sharif Standard
In the end, Omar Sharif’s bridge career tells us something important about the game: it can grip you as powerfully as any addiction, demand as much dedication as any art form, and provide as much joy as any passion.
He wasn’t the absolute best player in the world—Garozzo, Belladonna, and others were technically superior. But he might have been the best ambassador bridge ever had. He had the fame, the charisma, and most importantly, the genuine love for the game that made people believe bridge mattered.
Sharif once said he had “no plans for tomorrow and no memories of yesterday. I live now.” That philosophy served him well both in cinema and at the bridge table, where the only thing that matters is the current deal, the current trick, the current decision.
And what a player he was—the movie star who chose cards over cameras, the celebrity who became a champion, and the bridge ambassador who showed the world that 52 cards and three partners could be just as thrilling as any Hollywood blockbuster.
For more profiles of legendary players, explore our Famous Bridge People series.