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 Modo was replaced on the spot by Gérard Rinaldi, who died in his turn from cancer on March 2, 2012. Michel Modo Michel Modo, born Michel Henri Louis Goi at Carpentras (Vaucluse) (born March 30, 1937 - died September 25, 2008), was a French actor and humorist. Modo died of cancer on September 25, 2008 in Vaires-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne). He is best known in France for having formed in the late 1950s a comedy duo, "Grosso et Modo", with actor Guy Grosso. The duo appeared in many movies with Louis de Funès, among which the series of "Gendarmes de Saint Tropez", where