Dear Sir,

The death last week of renowned actor Omar Sharif reminded me of another side of him: as a contract bridge player, who several times came up against our own Bermuda aces.

I thought I’d bring this to the table (pun intended) as perhaps only the older members of the local bridge club would recall Mr Sharif, on several occasions, representing his country of Egypt at the Annual Bermuda Regionals at the Southampton Princess.

His connection with the Island actually goes back to 1964 when the world’s top players converged on the Hotel Americana in New York City for the second World Bridge Olympiad.

Mr Sharif’s team, under the banner of the United Arab Republic (UAR), was one of some 30 teams participating, including Bermuda. (The UAR was of course a region, so I’m guessing that Middle Eastern countries didn’t come into their own until later).

The Bermuda team consisted of my father Peter John Willcocks, Mal Martin, Norman Bach, Graham Rosser, Bill Tucker and Tony Saunders. All except Tony are no longer with us. They were fortunate to have as coach legendary bridge expert and New York Times columnist Alan Truscott, who Tony has told me was a friend of Mr Bach’s. Lucky for us as we had a run of play that Olympiad, beating Mr Sharif’s team 7-0, as well as Argentina, Thailand and Jamaica on two successive nights.

Though little known outside of the game for his contract bridge mastery, which he always considered his first love, Mr Sharif was then at the height of his fame as a film star.

Indeed, his first appearance in a major movie — on a camel in the legendary Lawrence of Arabia — is said to be one of the greatest ever entrances on film.

So when my father returned home and told me no, he hadn’t seen the Beatles who were also staying at the hotel during their first US tour — I had just formed the Official Beatles Fan Club here — I was equally wide-eyed when he said he’d played against Omar Sharif.

“Wow, did you get his autograph?”, I asked.

My father replied, “No, of course not, he’s just another bridge player!”.

My father and Omar died exactly ten years apart. RIP.

Pamela H Willcocks

Smith’s