To my surprise, I realised that despite its success I hadn’t seen it. My friends recommended it, and I was curious about drama released during the year-long rule of Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood president, which also featured the excellent, daring Moga Harra (Heat Wave), based on the late Osama Anwar Okasha’s novel, written by Wael Hamdi and directed by Mohamed Yassin.

Once I started to follow Bedoun Zikr Asmaa, I was struck by the exceptional performance of the actors. But what caught my attention the most was the performance of Nahed Roushdi, who passed away a few days later on Saturday 14 September, at the age 67. She had battled with illness for a long time, but never spoke about it in public while she went on working. In Bedoun Zikr Asmaa Roushy played the role of Samiha, the wife of Rabei (Abdel-Aziz Makhyoun), a sweet street vendor, and the mother of two girls, Nawara and Taghreed, and a boy, Atef (respectively: Horeya Farghali, Sahar Al-Sayegh and Ahmed Al-Fishawi). The drama basically documents the rise of the Islamists during the second half of the 1980s and especially during the first few years of Mubarak’s rule. It uses the story of Nawara’s troubled marriage to Meitmed (Walid Fawaz) who was brilliant as the young Islamist blindly obeying his sheikh who insists on moving to Saudi Arabia taking Nawara with him and returning even more confused about religion.

I always remember her as Saniya, playing her timeless and unforgettable role in the TV series Lan Aiysh fi Gelbab Abi (I Won’t Live in My Father’s Robe, 1996), with the late Nour Al-Sherif and the exceptional Abla Kamel: the daughter of Al-Haj Abdel-Ghaffour Al-Boraei (played by Al-Sherif), who became a tycoon businessman in the field of spare parts, rising from very modest origins accompanied by his wife Fatma (Abla Kamel), who earned her living cooking koshary (the famous cheap Egyptian street food). The TV series was directed by Ahmed Tawfik with screenplay by Mustafa Moharram, based on Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’ novel.

Roushdi graduated from the acting department of the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts in 1982, and she was a dedicated, talented actress who focused on television drama. In her early years she took part in the TV series La Ya Ebnaty Al-Aziza (No My Dear Daughter, 1979), starring Abdel-Moneim Madbouli and Hoda Sultan and directed by Nour Al-Demerdash. She took part in many other TV series in minor roles, then played a bigger role in Samir Seif’s TV series Safar Al-Ahlam (Dream Travel, 1986), starring Mahmoud Morsi, Athar Al-Hakim, Salah Al-Saadani and Abdel-Aziz Makhyoun with a screenplay by Wahid Hamed.

In the 1990s her roles were more alluring as she participated in the famous TV series Arabesque: Ayam Hassan Al-Nomani (Arabesque: The Days of Hassan Al-Nomani, 1994), directed by Gamal Abdel-Hamid with a screenplay by Okasha, starring alongside Salah Al-Saadani, Hoda Sultan, Abu Bakr Ezzat, Hisham Selim, Soheir Al-Morshedi and Hala Sedki. She also played Fatma in Al-Zeini Barakat (1995), based on Gamal Al-Ghitani’s famous novel and directed by Yehia Al-Alami, starring alongside Nabil Al-Halafawi, Tahani Rashed, Abdel-Rahman Abu Zahra, Sahar Rami and Ahmed Bedeir. She was later part of another ensemble cast in both seasons of the TV series Hawanem Garden City (Ladies of Garden City, 1997 and 1998), directed by Ahmed Sakr with screenplay by Mona Noureddine, playing Kawthar, alongside Hussein Fahmi, Safeya Al-Emari, Abla Kamel, Hisham Selim, Madiha Youssri, Laila Fawzi, Ahmed Khalil and Ezzat Abu Ouf.

More recently she starred in the TV series Aad Tanazoli (Countdown, 2014), starring Amr Youssef, Kinda Alloush, Mohamed Farrag and Sabri Abdel-Moneim, directed by Hussein Al-Menbawi. She also starred in Kamla Abu-Zekri’s Wahet Al-Ghoroub (Sunset Oasis, 2017), based on the novel by the late Bahaa Taher, with a screenplay by Mariam Naoum and Hala Al-Zeghendi, starring alongside Khaled Al-Nabawi, Menna Shalabi, Ahmed Kamal, Roushdi Al-Shami, Sayed Ragab and Khaled Kamal. In the same year she starred in the TV series Nasibi wi Kesmetak (My Destiny and Your Fate), directed by Seif Youssef, starring Karim Qassim, Sherry Adel, Dorra and Ahmed Al-Awadi.

Last year Roushdi appeared in Khaled Youssef’s Ramadan TV series Serroh Al-Batte’ (The Secret of the Sultan), starring Ahmed Salah Al-Saadani, Hussein Fahmi, Ahmed Fahmi and Hanan Mutawei. In the same year she also starred in the TV series Al-Sandouk (Mystery Box), starring Ahmed Dash, Hoda Al-Mufti, Samah Anwar, Reham Abdel-Ghaffour and Ali Qassem, directed by Marwan Abdel-Moneim and Saffah Al-Giza (The Giza Killer, 2023), directed by Hadi Al-Bagouri, starring Ahmed Fahmi, Raken Saad, Bassem Samra, Dalia Shawki and Hanan Youssef.

Roushdi made a few appearances on the silver screen including the recent film Hazzak Al-Youm (Your Horoscope Today, 2022,) directed by Osama Orabi.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly