Staff Report
KARACHI: Renowned Pakistani actor, producer, director and television broadcaster, and literary figure Zia Mohyeddin passed away at 91 in Karachi.
Zia Mohyeddin, born on June 20, 1931, in Faisalabad, appeared in Pakistani and British cinema and television throughout his career, spanning over 70 years.
Zia Mohyeddin shot to fame with his blockbuster Pakistan Television talk show named after him, Zia Mohyeddin Show (1969 – 1973).
Zia, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London from 1953 to 1956, and performed vital stage roles in the famed “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and “Julius Caesar” in 1957.
After his 1960 film debut in Pakistan, he made an impression as Tafas, Lawrence’s ill-fated Arab guide, in the classic British film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He continued to work on BBC’s TV series, including “Danger Man,” “Sir Francis Drake,” and “The Doctors and the Nurses.”
Other British films in which he appeared as a supporting actor include Sammy Going South, Behold a Pale Horse, Deadlier Than the Male, The Sailor from Gibraltar, They Came from Beyond Space, and Bombay Talkie.
Highly critical of the then government, he left Pakistan in the late 1970s and returned to England. Among his later films were Ashanti, The Assam Garden (1985), and Immaculate Conception (1992), and the highly touted miniseries The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy (1986) and Shalom Salaam (1989), among other guest appearances on such TV programs as “Z Cars,” “Minder” and “King of the Ghetto” (recurring).
Mohyeddin’s memoir “A Carrot is a Carrot: Memories and Reflection” was published in 2012.
Mohyeddin founded the National Academy of Performing Arts, in Karachi and became its president. The octogenarian continued to appear as a lecturer/speaker, hosts occasional TV programmes, and narrates short films and commercials.
