Egypt's Marilyn Monroe dies at 82

Egyptian actress Hend Rostom, best known for playing the temptress in movies of the 1950s and 1960s, died of a heart attack Monday night at a hospital in Cairo, medical sources said. She was 82. Nicknamed Marilyn Monroe of the Egyptian cinema, Rostom started her career in 1949 when she appeared as an extra in the musical classic "Flirtious Girls". During her career that spanned 30 years, she was famous for playing seductive roles. Her filmography includes such classics as "Eve's Girls", "The Body", "I can't Sleep", "Conflict on the Nile", "A Rumour with Love" starring internationally renowned actor Omar Sharif, and "The Night's Empress". Rostom belongs to what is known as the golden generation of the Egyptian cinema. She worked with Egypt's leading movie directors including Youssef Chahin who directed her in "Bab Al Hadeed" (Cairo's central station), which competed for the 1958 Berlin Film Festival's top prize. She quit acting in 1979 and disappeared from the public eye until her death.