Who was Madiha Kamel? Google Doodle honours late Egyptian actress

Today would have been the Alexandria-born actress' 73rd birthday

Madiha Kamel's career spanned three decades, and both film and TV work. Photos: Facebook / Madiha Kamel Official 

Today, August 3, would have been Madiha Kamel's 73rd birthday – and Google Doodle is honouring the actress by featuring her image on the search engine.

Kamel had a career that spanned close to three decades: she moved to Cairo from Alexandria in the early 1960s, where she started modelling. She had an immediate interest in the entertainment industry, but her parents wanted her to pursue an education, and so she studied at Ain Shams University. But even there she took part in student theatre and radio plays.

Her first on-screen roles came in the mid-1960s: with movies such as 30 Days in Prison, in which she starred alongside Farid Shawqi. In the 1970s she became a TV star with El Bashayer, and acted in both Egyptian and Lebanese movies, including Love and Pride and the spy movie Climbing to the Bottom.

Her fame definitely peaked in the 1970s, and she was known for her dancing, including belly dancing, at this time.

She was married three times, and had one daughter. She retired in the early 1990s to focus on family, and sadly passed away in 1997 after battling breast cancer.

Kamel's Google Doodle is being shown in a relatively small slice of the world today: it is being featured in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq and Oman. Head here, to read more about doodles from the region.

The Google Doodle design:

The final Google Doodle design to honour Madiha Kamel's 73rd birthday. 

And these are the early sketches of potential designs for the doodle:

The initial sketches of the Doodle. 

Here are some other Google Doodles from the past that celebrate MENA region heroes:

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