Samir Sabry
{{Infobox | name = Samir Galal Sabry | fullname = Samir Galal Sabry | birth_date = 27 December 1946
Samir Galal Sabry is an Egyptian actor, film director, producer, performer and composer. He is often credited as the first intellectual to introduce the 'Talk Show' concept in the Middle East
Career
Family Background
Born to Colonel Gamal Pacha Sabry, of the Royal Egyptian Army and XXXX Mother of XXXX. Born to an aristocratic family in Alexandria, when Egypt was under British rule, it was a common tradition to learn to master sophisticated activities such as piano and oud playing and painting at a very early age. Mrs Sabry taught her young child to master playing the piano and painting while his father taught him to master playing various traditional string instruments. Sabry's family was trillingual, as was common practice with aristocratic families of that time, hence making Sabry speak Italian, French, English and Arabic very fluently. Due to the Sabry family's avid, and almost fanatic, appreciation of the theater, the young Sabry was often expected to re-enact contemporary theatrical performances of the time, and gladly did so.
Sabry attended the Royal Victoria College of Alexandria, a British College also known as the Eton of the Middle East, which is where he discovered his vivacious drive to act. Sabry actively participated in Shakespearean school plays and was particularly drawn to mastering the typical Shakespearean melodramatic style, distinguished by emphasized and often exaggerated emotion. Sabry learned to echo the drama quite intensely through his annunciation of the speech and actions. Among some of Sabry's predecessors and Victoria College class mates were Omar El Sherif, Youssef Shahine, King Hassan of Jordan etc. Sabry's Elizabethan theatrical style, drew Sabry to later travel to Oxford to perfect and fine-tune his skill.
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Early Stages
The Sabry family moved to Zamalek, in Cairo where the then 10 year old Sabry was introduced to his neighbour Abdel Halim Hafez, also known as the Dark Nightingale. At Sabry's insistent request, Sabry was to attend one of Halim's recordings for his upcoming hit 'Dreaming of You' Bahlam beek, as part of Halim's movie 'A love Story'. Halim requested that Sabry stand next to him on stage while he performed the song. It was then that Sabry's talent and drive were discovered which led Amal Fahmy to intruduce Sabry to Lubna Abdel Aziz who requested Sabry to take part in her anglophone television show, a show very similar to Ecole des Fans etc. Little did Sabry know, was this the his first step towards stardom.
Radio
Impressed by Sabry's Oxfordian English, Sabry was asked by Amal Fahmy, senior radio presenter, to take the lead in presenting the 4 hour long Anglophone radio show called 'A bouquet of Flowers' which Sabry presented while still in college. It was then that Sabry discovered his intriguing and often diplomatically intimidating interviewing skill.
Television
It was not surprising for Sabry to then study broadcasting in Cairo and to launch a career as the first challenging Talk Show host, a new and often controversial concept among Egyptian and Middle Eastern society. Sabry's style is often compared to that of Alastair Brian Walden, Jean-Luc Delarue, Bernard Pivot etc. Sabry went on to tackle various socio-political subject matters, a huge taboo at the time, causing the Egyptian censorship authorities to close down his show various time.