Egyptian actress once on list of ‘world’s most beautiful women’ turns 99

A well-respected and prominent Egyptian actress has hit a record among Egyptian actors when she turned 99 on Sunday at an elderly home in Cairo.

Unbeknown to many, Madeeha Yusri was actually born in 1918 and not 1921, as some believe.

According to a brief biography on Yursri’s life, she was born as Ghaneema Khaleel Habib to a father of Turkish origin and a Sudanese mother.

The actress was first discovered in 1939 by film director Mohammed Kareem. A year later she earned a small on-screen role with the late Egyptian musician and singer Mohammed Abdel Wahab in “Love is Forbidden” – her first film.

According to Egyptian media, citing a Time magazine ranking, Yusri was named as one of the world’s top 10 most beautiful women in the 1940s.

During Yusri’s 70-year career, she took part in 90 movies and 12 television series. She retired in 2012.