The day before yesterday, at the age of 79, the Lebanese director, writer and actor Sami Khayyat, who is considered one of the most prominent faces of the comic theater in Lebanon, passed away. According to what was confirmed by his daughter, Sabine Khayyat.
Khayyat died in Rizk Hospital in Beirut, where he had been in intensive care for about a week, due to complications from bone cancer, according to his daughter.
Born in December 1943, Khayyat has presented about 62 satirical works since 1960. His almost annual works were shown for months, even during the harshest stages of the war that Lebanon witnessed between 1975 and 1990.
The late holder of a degree in law and political science, and another in contemporary literature and linguistics, was famous for using it in his works, in which his wife, Nayla, represented alongside him a mixture of the French language and the Lebanese dialect, which he called “Al-Franbani”, which he published a book in 2023.
The late was sometimes satisfied with French alone, and attracted a wide range of Francophones and intellectuals in general, and in 2020 he was awarded the French Medal of Arts and Letters, with the rank of officer, in appreciation of his work.
Khayyat, who is known for his restless movement on the stage, used to deal with the political and social conditions in his plays in a satirical way, and to imitate some political and media figures, and in his last work in early 2022 entitled “Wala” he touched on the health and economic crises.
And the Actors Syndicate in Lebanon considered that “the comedy theater lost, with the death of Khayyat, an essential pillar of its formations,” describing the deceased as “the owner of a special, educated personality.”
The deputy candidate for the presidency, Michel Moawad, wrote on his Twitter account: “With the departure of the creative Sami Khayyat, the comic theater loses its godfather. He is the one who sowed joy in the hearts of the Lebanese in the most difficult circumstances.
As for the actor, Wissam Sabbagh, he tweeted, describing the deceased as a “beautiful soul” and “a talent that will not be repeated.”
Khayyat was also active in the field of animal defense, and in the 1970s he revived the Animal Welfare Association, which was founded by his father, Albert Khayyat.
