On March 5, 1963, Army Archerd wrote in Variety: “There’s been a not-so-subtle campaign pyramiding since Oscar nominations that Omar Sharif is an ex-Egyptian soldier who fought in the Israeli War.
Forget it: Omar sez: ‘I never fought in any army.’” Archerd also denied the rumor that Sharif was Muslim.Two big takeaways: 1.
Mudslinging during Oscar final voting has been around for a long time; 2.
Islamophobia has been around even longer.Sharif was a sensation in the 1962 “Lawrence of Arabia,” and was nominated for supporting actor.
So someone — possibly one of his rivals — started the rumor that since he’s Egyptian, he probably killed a lot of Israelis.
It was one of many low points in Oscar campaigning, in which contenders and their reps start whisper campaigns that a rival’s film is seriously flawed, or that the artist is a terrible person.It’s that time of year: Traditionally, mudslinging starts after noms are announced,
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