Mona Zaki: I owe him my stardom

Egyptian director Ismail Abdel Hafiz Cairo – Khaled Ali The death of Egyptian director Ismail Abdel Hafiz, has shocked many artists. Hafiz died on Thursday in Paris after a long illness.  He was behind the discovery of many new artists. Arabstoday discussed with a group of actors their reaction after receiving the sad news.
Egyptian actress Mona Zaki, expressed her sorrow after hearing the news. “I can’t forget my meeting with the late director in the Institute for Theatre and Arts.  He gave me a role in el Aela series (The Family) with the veteran Mahmoud Morsi.  I was able to draw attentions in this role, and this encouraged him to give me more roles in another series. We can only pray for him to rest in peace, especially I knew that he was very sick,” she said.
Syrian actor Gamal Soliman expressed his sorrow for this news, and said that Hafiz’s death was a great loss to the Arab and Egyptian art world. Soliman added: “I was honoured in working with him in Hadaek al Shetan series (Gardens of the Devil), and he was a very respectable director. He was very kind and this reflects on the atmosphere that we were feeling as a family, but I can only say may God forgive him and enjoy heaven.”
Egyptian actress Menna Fadaly said: “Today I lost my father.” She expressed the loss she felt when she heard the news, pointing out that she was in disbelief when this incident happened. “He was treating me as his daughter and of course I’ll miss him, but his works will always remind us of him,” she said.
The Tunisian actress Ferial Youssif said that she was very sad for the news.  She explained that she lost a man that she dealt with in Ibn Leil series, which is considered to be her most important work.
Youssif told Arabstoday: “ I lost someone like my father, he was very kind, and treating us as his family, and this was clear when he would sit with us to have breakfast everyday.This made us feel that were one family. I want to pass on my condolences to his family and his son. I ask God to let him rest  in peace.”
The late director was born in Kafr el-Sheikh governorate in March 1941. He graduated from the faculty of arts, Ain Shams University in 1963, and he refused to work as a dean in the college.  Hafiz then decided to work as an assistant director in many drama works. Most of his pieces was with the late author Osama Anwar Okasha.  He started his work as a director in the beginning of the 60s, and he took the name of the Dean of Arab and Egyptian Drama. He introduced many series such as Layaly el Helmya and Hadaek al Shetan.