Omar Sharif makes a new ''comeback''

Legendary actor Omar Sharif is back on the movie screen at the age of 71.

The Egyptian-born superstar has returned in a new movie about love between an old Muslim and a young Jew. Sharif described his new film as "a comeback."

The love portrayed in Francois Dupeyron's "Monsieur Ibrahim" - which Sharif presented Friday at the Venice Film Festival in Italy is not the kind of dashing romantic role that made him originally famous.

This time, it is a story of love between a lonely old Muslim shopkeeper and a neglected Jewish teen in Paris during the 1960s, who flee loneliness together through a unique relationship and friendship.

Sharif, who rose to stardom in such cinema classics as "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago," also received a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement after an impressive long movie career.

"It's because I really love the script, I love the things that were said in this film," AP cited him as saying.

"I hadn't made a film for five or six years before this. I wasn't finding suitable parts. I always had this problem because I have an accent that is not Italian, not French, not English, not Spanish or Mexican."

"When I was a young actor and I sold tickets at the box office, they used to change parts to suit me. But when you're an old man, and the director needs an old Italian, he gets one," he said. "In this film, I'm playing the part of an old Arab, which is what I am."

"Life is so simple," Sharif conveyed. "I would like there to be dialogue for everyone. For the Palestinians, for Israel, for everyone."

Omar Sharif was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1932 into a wealthy Lebanese-Egyptian family and began his career playing in Egyptian films before heading on to Hollywood. (Albawaba.com)