Kassem, born in 1941, began his artistic career as an actor in the 1960s.
He made his first appearances in the films The Most Dangerous Man in the World (1967), starring Fouad El-Mohandes and Shwikar, and Father Wants It Like That (1968), starring Souad Hosny and Roshdi Abaza.
Later, Kassem started to go international, as he co-wrote the French film Les Ambassadeurs (The Ambassadors, 1976). Then, he acted in the French film Le Cardinal de Retz (1975) by Bernard d'Abrigeon and in the Italian film Nefertiti (1994) by French director Guy Gilles.
Kassem also worked as an assistant director on Youssef Chahine’s film Adieu Bonaparte (1985) and as an art director on Dawood Abdelsayed’s film El-Saaleek (The Vagabonds, 1985), which starred Nour El-Sherif, Mahmoud Abdelaziz, and Youssra.
In 1994, he co-wrote Chahine's film Al-Mohager (The Emigrant) and assisted him in directing the film, which is listed among the top 100 Egyptian films.
Kassem was married to Magda Haroun, head of the Jewish community in Egypt.
He is the father of actor Karim Kassem.
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