Wrong Omar Sharif.
Mr. Sharif is alive and well and still a champion bridge player. He acted with Viggo Mortenson in "Hidalgo" a couple years ago, and may be in more movies soon.
As I recall, THIS Omar has been very pro-Western.
Darn. I knew I should have put a smiley on that post. I didn't realize that he had been in any movies as recently as that, though.