Nadim Sawalha

Nadim Sawalha
Born	(1935-09-08) 8 September 1935 (age 89) Madaba, Emirate of Transjordan (present-day Jordan)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1964–present
Spouse	Roberta Lane ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	3, including Nadia and Julia Sawalha
Relatives	Nabil Sawalha (brother)

Nadim Joakim Sawalha (Arabic: نديم صوالحة) (born 8 September 1935) is a Jordanian-British actor. He has made over 100 appearances in film and television, in a career spanning more than 40 years, which include two James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and The Living Daylights (1987). He is the father of actresses Nadia and Julia Sawalha.

Early life

Sawalha was born in Madaba, Jordan, in 1935[1] and moved to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s to study drama.[2] His daughter Julia revealed on her episode of Who Do You Think You Are? that even he is uncertain of his birth date, but it is thought to be around 7 to 9 September.[3] His brother is comedian Nabil Sawalha.^[citation needed]

Personal life

Sawalha is married to Roberta Mary Lane, and has three daughters: Nadia, Julia and Dina.[4]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	Yellow Dog	An Arab pilot
	A Touch of Class	Night Hotel Manager
1974	Callan	Padilla
	The Bunny Caper	Abdur	aka Sex Play
	Gold	A member of the Syndicate
	Vampira	An airline representative
1975	The Wind and the Lion	The Sherif of Wazan
	The Return of the Pink Panther	Museum guide
1977	Are You Being Served?	The Emir's Interpreter
	Sweeney!	Chairman of the Oil Producers' Conference
	Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger	Hassan
	The Spy Who Loved Me	Aziz Fekkesh
1980	The Awakening	Dr El Sadek
1981	Göta kanal eller Vem drog ur proppen?	Sheikh Kahlifa bin Hirscham al Saba
1985	Young Sherlock Holmes	Egyptian tavern owner
1987	The Living Daylights	Tangier police chief
1991	Company Business	Faisal
2005	Syriana	Emir Hamad Al-Subaai
2006	The Nativity Story	Melchior
2007	Whatever Lola Wants	Adham
2008	Captain Abu Raed	Abu Raed
2010	West Is West	Pir Naseem
2015	The Rendezvous	Professor Al Ahmad
2018	Tel Aviv on Fire	Bassem

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Space: 1999	Zoran	Episode: "The Immunity Syndrome"
	The Sweeney	Captain Shebbeq	Episode: "Visiting Fireman"
	Survivors	Amul	Episodes: "Lights of London", parts 1 & 2
1977	The Professionals	Sheikh Achmeia	Episode: "Long Shot"
1978	The Professionals	Arab Diplomat	Episode: "First Night"
1979	The Knowledge	Arab Man
	Minder	Sardi	Episode: "A Tethered Goat", Series 1
1981	Juliet Bravo	Mr. Hamid	Episode: "The Third Man"
1981 to 1982	Sorry, I'm A Stranger Here Myself	Mumtaz
1984	Bergerac	Zaki Mansoor	Episode: "A Touch Of Eastern Promise" Season 3 Episode 6
1985	Open All Hours	Mr. Gupta	Episode: "Horse-Trading"
1988	Tales of the Unexpected	Zayid	Episode (9/8): "The Finger of Suspicion"
1990	House of Cards	Bank Manager	Episode 1
1993-2006	The Bill	Multiple	Episode: "Part of the Family" (1993) Mr. Said Episode: "Nice Boy" (1996) Hussein Bakri Episode: "To Catch a Cobra" (1999) Amit Roy Episode: "On the Wagon" (2000) Viviek Gupta Episode: "461: Go For Gold" (2006) Rafi Nadir
1995-1998	Dangerfield	Dr. Shaaban Hamada
2000	Arabian Nights	Judge Zadic
2002	The Last Cavalier
2003	Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World	Narrator	PBS
2007	Diana: Last Days of a Princess	Mohammed Al-Fayed	Docudrama
2007	Robin Hood	Bassam	Episode: "We Are Robin Hood"
2008	House of Saddam	King Hussein
2011	The Hour	Naguib Hafiz	Episode #1.2

Other roles

• He played the part of Omar Badri in the BBC's CDX computer game.
• In the 2018 BBC Radio 4 miniseries A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London, he played the role of Dr. Mahmoud.[5]

References

1. "The Arab Talks To....Nadim Sawalha". Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
2. Participant: Julia Sawalha (25 October 2006). "Episode page on BBC website". Who Do You Think You Are?. Series 3. Episode 8. London, England. Event occurs at 1:10. BBC. BBC One.
3. Who Do You Think You Are?; Event occurs at 22:00
4. "Nadia Sawalha: My family values". The Guardian. 18 April 2014.
5. BBC Radio 4 - Drama, A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London

External links

• Nadim Sawalha at IMDb