Karioka, Tahiya (c. 1921–1999)
Karioka, Tahiya (c. 1921–1999)
Arab actress and belly dancer. Born Badawiya Mohammed Karim around 1921; died in Cairo, Egypt, on September 20, 1999; married 14 times.
Acclaimed as the "Queen of Oriental Dancing," actress and belly dancer Tahiya Karioka began dancing as a young girl and starred on Cairo's equivalent of the Broadway stage during the 1930s and 1940s. Her first film, Doctor Farahat (1935), was followed by some 300 films, plays, and television soap operas. Notable among her movies was Youth of a Woman, in which she portrayed a landlady who seduces a naive peasant student. The film was an entry in the 1956 Cannes Film Festival and won an international prize for directing in 1958. Karioka's beauty and elegance attracted some of Egypt's most prominent personalities, including the late King Farouk. Karioka died of a heart attack on September 20, 1999, and was buried later that same day. Her funeral procession was led by Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni.