Beshay was born in Cairo and he studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, and the Higher Cinema Institute, graduating in 1976. He started his career with Shafik Shamma’s TV series Al-Walima (The Banquet, 1979), starring Taheya Karioka, Nabila Ebeid, Emad Hamdi and Karima Mukhtar.

Beshay wrote the screenplays of two comedy films, Ela Man Yahumuhu Al-Amr (To Whom It May Concern, 1985), directed by Abdel-Hadi Taha, featuring Samir Ghanem, Noura and Abu-Bakr Ezzat, and Fawzia Al-Borgwaziya (Bourgeois Fawziya, also 1985), directed by Ibrahim Al-Shaqanqiri, which focuses on the relationships between residents of the same neighbourhood with different political views, underscoring some significant issues like poverty and corruption.

His silver screen credits also include Al-Wazir Gai (The Minister is Coming, 1986), starring Wahid Seif and Sayed Zayan, directed by Ibrahim Al-Shaqanqiri, and Al-Hilm Al-Qatel (The Deadly Dream, also 1986), starring Elham Shahine and Youssef Shaaban, directed by Adel Al-Aasar.

In 1987 alone he wrote Inaam Mohamed Ali’s Yawmeyat Emraa Moasra (The Diary of a Modern Woman), starring Laila Taher, Salah Qabil, Ragaa Al-Geddawi and Inaam Salousa, Al-Shaqanqiri’s Mohakmet Ali Baba (Ali Baba’s Trial), starring Yehia Al-Fakharani and Esaad Younis, Yehia Al-Alami’s Qabl An Yantahi Al-Omr (Before We’re Gone), an adaptation of Ihsan Abdel-Quddous’ novel, starring Farid Shawki and Karima Mukhtar, and Saad Arafa’s Al-Malaeka La Taskoun Al-Ard (Angels Don’t Live on Earth), starring Mamdouh Abdel-Alim, Poussy and Said Saleh.

He also wrote Wa Nasayt Anni Emraa (I Forgot I was a Woman, 1994), another Ihsan Abdel-Quddous adaptation, directed by Atef Salem, and collaborated with director Karim Diaaeldin on Al-Ukhtabout (The Octopus, 2000). Many of his television credits date from this time: Alia Yassin’s Al-Leqaa Al-Thani (The Second Meeting, 1988), starring Mahmoud Yassin and Poussy, with each episode telling a different story; Nass wi Nass (People and People, 1989), based on the work of humourist Ahmed Ragab and cartoonist Mustafa Hussein; Yehia Al-Alami’s hit Demou Sahebat Al-Galala (Her Majesty’s Tears, 1993); Samir Seif’s Cinderella (2006), starring Mona Zaki, about the life of the legendary actress Soad Hosni; and Ahmed Sakr’s Emaret Yaacoubian (The Yacoubian Building, 2007), based on Alaa Al-Aswani’s novel.

His last work for the television was Tager Al-Saada (Merchant of Happiness, 2009), directed by Sherine Adel.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 5 September, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly