
Ali AlKassar
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1887-07-13
Day of Death
1957-01-15 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Cairo, Egypt
Ali AlKassar
Biography
A pioneer of musical comedy, he was born in the Sayeda Zeinab district in 1887. He began his artistic career in 1908 by working in the Zainab Theatre Company, which he founded in 1907. He then worked in the George Abyad Company, where he met Amin Sedky. Together, they formed an acting company in 1916, named after Ali Al-Kassar and Mustafa Amin. On January 6, 1919, he moved his company to his new theatre, the Majestic, on Emad El-Din Street, with his partner and playwright, Amin Sedky. It was the strongest and most successful comedy company, without competition, and it withstood all the challenges that the history of modern Egyptian theatre has known. The two partners remained together until they parted ways at the end of the summer of 1925. Ali Al-Kassar continued to work alone with a troupe bearing his name at the Majestic Theatre until 1939. Throughout that period, he remained steadfast and artistically brilliant, regularly presenting full theatrical seasons to his audience, summer and winter, a new play every three weeks, and eleven concerts, including matinees and soirées, per week. He also traveled with his troupe throughout the governorates of Upper and Lower Egypt and sister Arab countries. Ali Al-Kassar's plays were written by many prominent writers, such as Amin Sedqi, Badi' Khairi, Hamed Al-Sayed, and others. He also presented more than two hundred operettas to the theatre. Ali Al-Kassar's immortal artistic character (Othman Abdel Basset) in his plays represented a symbol of the popular hero who triumphed for his popularity on the stage of that era. He presented it in a variety of different roles, and he never presented it as a servant or a doorman in one of his novels. He remained that way until he dissolved his troupe in 1950 after he became tired of searching for a stage to work on constantly. This was after he left his great theater (the Majestic) following a dispute with its owner, Khawaja Kosti, due to the lack of theaters at that time and the proliferation of cinemas that had taken over the scene instead of theaters. Director and producer Togo Mizrahi exploited the success of the character (Othman Abdel Basset) on the stage, and transferred it to the white screen in nine films, which were not presented by Ali Al-Kassar. It is worth noting that the success of the character (Othman Abdel Basset) did not require him to be presented in the cinema as a doorman or servant. In all the 36 films that presented the character, directed by major directors such as Hussein Fawzy, Hassan El Imam, Mahmoud Zulfikar, and Fouad Khalil, the character was not presented as a servant or doorman except in the film (A Bullet in the Heart). Ali Al-Kassar passed away in Kasr Al-Aini Hospital on January 15, 1957, at the age of 69, after a long struggle with poverty and illness.
Known For
Acting
١٠٠ ألف جنيه
as عثمان عبدالباسط
(1957)
(1953)
Albi Ala Waldi
as Dokdok
(1952)
Qadam Al Kheir
as Muhammaden
(1952)
(1952)
Ghaltet Ab
as Meshmesh
(1951)
(1951)
(1950)
Prince Of The Revenge
as Nour
(1950)
Prince Of The Revenge
as العبد نور
(1950)
(1950)
Kisma wa Nassib
as Uncle Othman, the servant
(1950)
(1950)
(1949)
(1949)
المرأة شيطان
as والد أحلام
(1948)
صاحبة العمارة
as فرحات بركات - وكيل أشغال
(1948)
Narges
as أبو الفرج
(1946)
Youm Fil Aali
as Osman Efendi
(1946)
(1944)
A Bullet in the Heart
as البواب
(1944)
Nour al-Din and the Three Sailors
as عثمان عبدالباسط
(1942)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
as علي بابا
(1942)
(1941)
A Thousand and One Nights
as عثمان عبدالباسط
(1939)
Lend Me Three Pounds
as عثمان عبدالباسط
(1938)
Osman and Ali
as عثمان عبدالباسط/ علي بك
(1938)
(1937)
Seven O'clock
as عثمان
(1936)
The Night Watchman
as عثمان عبد الباسط
(1920)
Crew
(1937)
Seven O'clock
Screenplay
(1936)
The Night Watchman
Screenplay