Isma’il Yassin

Isma’il Yassin was an indispensable complement in many movies. When a support actor was needed to provide comic relief, the services of Yassin were called upon. But make no mistake about it, he acted in funny but intelligent roles. Not for him were the roles of the moron or the foil. Neither do I remember him engaging in slapstick except very occasionally.

He went beyond supporting roles. He had the lead role in many features; indeed, he is famous for a series of 15 films where his name was used in the title to capitalize on his fame. Some of these films were: Isma’il Yassin In The Army; I.Y. In The Police; In The Navy; In The Air Force; In The Secret Police; In Prison; In The Mental Hospital; and so on.

It is difficult to guess as to the number of movies he participated in; my research material did not provide me with a reliable figure. Some of my favorites: Bolbol Effendi (Mr. Nightingale); El Settat Afarit (Women Are Devils); Agazah Fe Gohanam (Holiday In Hell); and Fatma, Marika, Wou Rachel (Three Women’s Names: A Muslim, A Christian, And A Jew).

He was born in 1915 in Suez. His childhood was difficult. His mother died at an early age, and his father was in jail. Thus he found himself forced to leave school and seek work before he had even completed primary school.

He started as a monologue singer and eventually headed to Cairo to join Badi’a Masabny Music Hall.

He was not particularly handsome, he had a large mouth to which he often referred to in a comic way in his movies.

In the ’60s, his health was declining. He moved to Lebanon where he participated in a number of movies, when he came back to Egypt, he was heavily in debt.

He died of a heart attack in 1972.

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