Mary Queeny ( ar, ماري كويني; 1913–2003) was a Lebanese born Egyptian

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

Biography

She was born Mary Boutros Younis in 1913 to a Lebanese Christian family in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Her mother's cousin was Asaad Dagher, a writer and journalist at the ''

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...

'' newspaper. In 1923 she moved to

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

with her aunt, actress and film producer

Assia Dagher Assia Dagher ( ar, آسيا داغر; 6 March 1908 – 12 January 1986) was a Lebanese- Egyptian actress and film producer. Biography Dagher (Almaza Dagher) was born in Tannourine, Lebanon on March 6, 1908. She moved to Cairo with her sister M ...

. She took the name Mary Queeny when she was 12. She married Egyptian film actor and director Ahmad Galal in 1940. Their son is film director Nader Galal. Until her retirement in 1982, she produced all of the films he directed. Queeny became a popular actress and producer in a pioneering age of

Egyptian cinema The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo, sometimes also referred to as Hollywood on the Nile. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the Intern ...

. Her first role was in 1929 in the film ''

Ghadat al-sahara ''Ghadat al-sahara'' is a 1929 Egyptian film that stars Lebanese actress Mary Queeny Mary Queeny ( ar, ماري كويني; 1913–2003) was a Lebanese born Egyptian actress and film producer. Biography She was born Mary Boutros Younis in 191 ...

'' (''The Desert Beauty''). She went on to star in all of her aunt's subsequent films. She appeared in 20 films and was among the first women in Egypt to appear on screen without a

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

. With her husband she founded Galal Films in 1942; in 1944 it became Gala Studios. During the Golden Age of Egyptian film, it was one of the five largest studios. In 1958 she established a film colour processing laboratory, which in 1963 she sold to the Misr Company, now Misr International, which was later acquired by

Youssef Chahine Youssef Chahine ( ar, يوسف شاهين, Yūsuf Shāhīn ; 25 January 1926 – 27 July 2008) was an Egyptians, Egyptian film director. He was active in the Cinema of Egypt, Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. He directed twel ...

and his niece, Marianne Khoury. Queeny died on 23 November 2003 in

of a heart attack. She was 90.

Selected filmography

*''Pangs Of Conscience'' (1931) *''When A Woman Loves'' (1933) *''Rebellious Girl'' (1940)(in which she took her first leading role) *''Prisoner No 17'' (1949) *''The Seventh Wife'' (1950) *''Sacrificing My Love'' (1951). *''Women Without Men'' (1953), the last in which she acted, was made by Egypt's leading living director,

References

External links

*
Mary Queeny filmography
1913 births 2003 deaths Egyptian film actresses Egyptian film producers Lebanese film actresses Lebanese emigrants to Egypt Naturalized citizens of Egypt Egyptian child actresses {{Egypt-actor-stub