His only child Tarek El-Sharif, 58, revealed that his father has been struggling with the disease for the past three years.
Tarek said that Omar often confuses the names of his most famous films and forgets where they were filmed.
He made his frank confession during an interview with respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo, and the revelation follows earlier rumours that the Oscar-nominated actor had quit because he could not remember his lines.
A spokeswoman for Omar reportedly rubbished claims two years ago he was struggling with Alzheimer’s and dementia as “mere lies.”
She told a magazine the only thing the actor was suffering from was extreme fatigue and a broken heart over the problems of his native Egypt, where he now spends most of his time.
The Doctor Zhivago star confessed in an interview two years ago that he tended to forget a lot of things.
But he presented it as a positive thing because it meant he didn’t dwell on the past or future and thought purely of the present.
Tarek, who also appeared in Doctor Zhivago as Yuri at the age of eight, told El Mundo: “My father has Alzheimer’s. It’s difficult to determine what stage it’s at. It’s obvious he’ll never improve and it will get worse. There are times of the day when he’s better and others in which he feels confused.”
“He knows who he is but not necessarily the reason people greet him,” he continued. “When someone seems him in the street and approaches him, he often thinks it’s someone he used to know whose name and face he’s forgotten when most of the time it’s just a fan. He still knows he’s a famous actor.”
He added: “The loss of memory affects above all specific things, details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film. He remembers for example that it was Doctor Zhivago but he’s forgotten when it was filmed. He can talk about the film but he forgets its name or he calls it something else instead like Lawrence of Arabia.”
The confession is the first by anyone in Omar’s close circle that the actor is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Tarek said he began to suspect his dad was suffering from the disease around three years ago but confessed the three-time Golden Globe winning actor has not realised he is ill and refuses to do exercises to slow its advance.
He also admitted his father asked about his ex-wife Faten Hamama, Tarek’s mother, days after she died earlier this year in January.
The funeral of the Egyptian actress and producer was attended by thousands of mourners including Egypt’s Minister of Culture Gaber Asfour and former presidential candidate Amr Moussa – but not Omar himself.
Tarek told El Mundo his father didn’t follow the news and had no idea she had died – and inquired about her well-being days after he had personally told him of her death.
The couple had been married for 19 years until their divorce in 1974.
The Funny Girl thespian – born Michel Demetri Chalhoub – spends much of his time in hotels in Egypt.
He is currently thought to be staying at a hotel in El Gouna, a tourist resort on the Red Sea which specialises in watersports including scuba diving and windsurfing.
Tarek said his dad’s daily routine consisted of relaxing on his terrace after breakfast and listening to live music in the hotel bar at night-time.
He revealed he felt “insecure” when he left the hotel and often refused to come out of his room.
Ironically Omar, still recognised as the Arab world’s biggest film star, played an Alzheimer’s sufferer in a French language film released in December 2009 called I Forgot To Tell You.
He spoke about going into hospital and interacting with patients who had the disease in interviews ahead of its premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival.
Source Sunday Express
