Hassan Youssef, Egyptian actor, dies aged 90

Egyptian actor and director Hassan Youssef died aged 90, his brother announced in a post on Facebook on Tuesday.

The Egyptian artistic community and the Arab public were shocked by the death of the great artist Hassan Youssef at the age of 90, who was one of the most prominent faces of Egyptian drama and cinema.

His brother, Mohamed Youssef, wrote on Facebook: “To God we belong and to Him we shall return. My older brother, the artist Hassan Youssef, passed away a short while ago. May God have mercy on him.”

Hassan Youssef’s retirement

The Egyptian star had announced his retirement after being affected by the death of his son Abdullah, and said during a phone call: “Thank God, I am fine and well. After the death of my dear son Abdullah, I made the decision immediately.”

He added: “I saw that acting was unnecessary because the pain inside me is the pain of a son that God would not write for anyone, which made me unable to present the roles that people are used to seeing me in. And I still have this pain inside me.”