El Deif Ahmad

Biography

An Egyptian actor, director, and writer, he was born in 1936 in the village of Tami Al-Amdid in the Dakahlia Governorate, into a family of seven children; he was the second youngest. His artistic talent shone during his high school and university years at Cairo University, where he directed and acted in numerous plays, eventually winning the gold medal in the Inter-University Cup competition. He graduated from the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Arts in 1960. After seeing him perform in a university play, Fouad El-Mohandes cast him in the 1964 play *Ana wa Huwa wa Hiya* (Me, Him, and Her). He later gained widespread recognition among the Egyptian public as a co-founder of the *Tholathy Adwaa El-Masrah* (The Trio of Stage Lights) troupe in 1967; the group rose to fame in the 1960s by performing numerous comedy plays and musical sketches. Among his most notable theatrical works are *Tabikh al-Mala'ika* (Angels' Cooking), *Ziyara Gharamiya* (A Romantic Visit), and *Al-Rajul Alladhi Zawwaja Imra'atahu* (The Man Who Married Off His Wife). In cinema, he acted in several films, including *Al-Asdiqa' al-Thalatha* (The Three Friends), *Al-Zawaj 'ala al-Tariqa al-Haditha* (Marriage, Modern Style), *30 Yawm fi al-Sijn* (30 Days in Prison), and *Shati' al-Marah* (Beach of Fun). He also wrote the screenplay for the film *Rub' Dastat Ashrar* (A Quarter Dozen Villains). He passed away in 1970 at the age of 34.