Mohammed Abdul Samee
Actress Magda Al-Sabahi died today, Thursday, at the age of 88, after a struggle with old age diseases, which she was suffering recently. Her son, actress Ghada Nafi, confirmed in press statements that her mother recently suffered from a health crisis that caused her death, and indicated that the funeral will leave a mosque Al-Hosari in 6th of October tomorrow after Friday prayers.
Magda was born in Tanta in the name of Afaf Ali Kamel Al-Sabahi, and obtained a French baccalaureate certificate, she began her artistic life at the age of 15, without the knowledge of her family and changed her name to Magda in order not to be discovered.
Her real start was in 1949 in the movie "The Adviser" directed by Saif Al-Din Shawkat with Ismail Yassin, and she became famous for the role of the romantic girl, but she presented the role of the Algerian activist Jamila Bouhired in the movie "Jamila". She played the role of the journalist who writes about the war, soldiers, and Zionist attacks during the October War period, with the movie "Age for a Moment" with Ahmadine, Mazhar and Zaki.
Magda also entered the production field and formed a film company with the same name, and one of the most prominent films produced by the film "Beautiful, the Messenger's Migration".
She represented Egypt in most of the international festivals and international film weeks, and she was chosen as a member of the cinema committee in the specialized national councils, and she won many awards from the Damascus International Festivals, Berlin and Venice International.
Her daughter Ghada had filed a stone case for her a few years ago and won it, confirming that her mother's property was originally in her name but she was giving her mother a general power of attorney to manage and dispose of everything.
The daughter added - in press and television interviews - that her mother's age made her be accused in a case of a fraud in the amount of 15 million pounds, which is the main motive in the case of stone, but only on paper, as she explained.
Ghada confirmed that she did not do anything harmful to her mother and that what she did was to protect her, as she became the one who goes to the police stations and is subject to investigations, and all this was not appropriate for her mother or her health condition.
It is noteworthy that Magda disappeared from the artistic scene for many years, and her appearance was limited to family events, after she moved away from acting 26 years ago, since she presented the movie "I forgot that I am a woman" with the director Atef Salem.
Magda's artistic balance exceeded sixty films, some taken from literary works such as "The Mirage", about the story of Naguib Mahfouz, "An nose and three eyes" by Ihsan Abdel Quddus, "The Man Who Lost His Shadow" by Fathi Ghanem.
She went through a single directing experience in the movie "Who Loved", which she produced and directed, and co-wrote it with Sabri Al-Askari and Wajeeh Najeeb in 1966.
She married the late actor Ihab Nafeh, who co-starred in a number of films such as "The Last Kiss, The Shocking". She won the Nile Award for Arts in 2016, which is the highest Egyptian award, and the state honored her on Art Day 2014.