10 years since the passing of “the joy maker” Sayed Zayan

The Arab artistic memory remains full of a group of great artists, who established strong artistic circles for their names, through the works that they presented, and which the public memorized by heart, and their creativity was the reason for their survival in the archives of Arab art.

In this context, we can look at the experience of the Egyptian comedian, Sayed Zayan, whose tenth anniversary of his death today, Monday, April 13, 2026, has drawn attention to him since his appearance in the sixties of the last century, gaining wide Arab fame at the levels: theater and cinema.

Sayed Zayan Attia Soliman was born on April 10, 1934, in Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. He holds an aviation engineering technician diploma, and specialized in maintaining Air Force aircraft in the Egyptian Army, before choosing to work in the technical field, starting from the Egyptian military theater.

Zayan attracted attention to him in all of his first artistic attempts, with the way he pronounced letters, and his improvisation of dozens of comedic situations, as the late director Nour Al-Demerdash (husband of the late artist Karima Mukhtar, and father of the journalist Moataz Al-Demerdash) captured the intelligence of Sayed Zayan, and presented him in two plays: “A Marriage Announcement” and “A Unity Movement to Lose You.”

The prominent turning point in Sayed Zayan’s artistic life was his appearance alongside the great star Fouad Al-Muhandis, in 1969, in the play “My Beautiful Lady,” which qualified him to become a cinematic face in the same year, through three films at once, namely: “Ataba Jazzaz,” “For Married Men Only,” and “The Thief.”

The producers and directors did not take the step of appointing Sayed Zayan as the first star of their plays and films, given that the Egyptian star’s “look”, the spontaneity of his performance, and his ability to improvise were not compatible with the prevailing idea in the seventies and eighties of the last century, that the handsome and romantic hero lead the championships in artistic works, but he was able, with his various roles, to create a state of art and a unique comedy school, the scenes of which the audience still remembers, whenever they nostalgia for the memories of the works of the art of the beautiful era.

• 

The emergence of Sayed Zayan, and his advancement in the ranks of the stars of the artistic scene, was strengthened thanks to his theatrical works, such as: “Bomba Kashar,” “The Women’s Street,” “The Story of the Western Neighborhood,” “A Beautiful Tragedy,” “The Fools,” “A Year with Delicious Work,” “Oh Sweetheart, Don’t Play with Matches,” “Fahlawi,” “Al-Qashash,” and “The Parachute.”

Egyptian cinema also immortalized Sayed Zayan’s presence in many films, including: “The Ghost of the Past,” “The Balah Agency,” “Excuse me, O Law,” and “The Doorman,” but his role in the film “The Beggar,” alongside Adel Imam and Wahid Seif, will remain iconic, to the point that current audiences consider this film their favorite, because of the unforgettable comedic situations it contains.

The year 2003 was the “year of transformation” in Sayed Zayan’s life, after he suffered a stroke, which left him unable to speak and move for many years. He was completely absent from the limelight, and there was no news of him, despite the slow improvement in his health condition, until news circulated that he decided in 2014 to travel to perform Umrah and continue treatment at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Medical City Hospital, before news of him disappeared, until his daughter “Iman” announced his death.

• For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Twitter