Omar Sharif a foreigner of some sort. He bridled at travel restrictions imposed by the government of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, leading to self-exile in Europe. He was a lifelong horse racing enthusiast, and at one time ranked among the world's top contract bridge players. Omar Sharif, whose adopted surname means "noble" or "nobleman", was born as Michel Dimitri Chalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt, to a Melkite Catholic family, either of Syrian or Lebanese descent: he belonged to a small ethnocultural minority known as the Levantine 'Antiochian' Greek Catholics of Egypt ("Rum Katuleek"), an offshoot of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Michel Rio Michel Rio Michel Rio (born 1945) is a French writer and novelist. Born in Brittany, he was raised in Madagascar and currently lives in Paris. He studied semiology and published his first novel in 1972. Although he was well-received by critics and has won several literary awards, he is still better known overseas (especially in the United States) than he is in France. His works have been translated into many languages, and are mostly rather short. Recurring themes include man's relationship to nature, the ignoble elements of sex, themes from the Arthurian Cycle and suicide. Several of his books feature