Remembering Younis Shalabi: 17 Years Since the Iconic Artist’s Passing and His Enduring Legacy

Today marks 17 years since the death of the innocent smile Younis Shalabi Who left our world today, November 12, 2007, after an artistic journey during which he made millions smile and a life journey in which he suffered many tragedies and sorrows.

Younes Shalabi, who put a smile on the lips of adults and children with his simplicity, innocence, and spontaneous performance, while introducing the character of Al-Wad Mansour Ibn Al-Nazer in the play Madrasat Al -Mushaghibin, and Atef Al-Sukari in the play Al-Ayal Kebret, which entertained and taught millions of children while introducing the character of Buji in the the children’s series Buji and Tamtam, and dozens of other roles in theatre, film and television.

Despite this comedy that the late artist entertained us with, he lived through sorrows and tragedies in his life which extended even after his passing to be inherited by the his children, whom he left as orphans, just as he lived as an orphan early on. .

In an interview with Youm7, a widow spoke “bean”. Younis Shalabi About these sorrows that the fans of the late artist did not know about in his youth, she said, “Younes was born on May 30, 1941 in the city of Mansoura. His father was a leading trader on the cotton stock exchange and lost money and died of grief, leaving his young wife with two daughters.

She continued: “His mother married the two daughters and lived the rest of her life with Younes. al-Qubba in Cairo after entering the Faculty of Commerce, Ain Shams University, and his artistic talents emerged in the school’s acting groups.”

During his university studies, the artist Younes Shalabi worked in accounts at Abu Al-Rish Hospital and Ain Shams University, to support himself and help his mother with the burdens of life, as his widow said .

She continues: “After obtaining a Bachelor of Commerce, he entered the Institute of Dramatic Arts working in small roles in some films, but his fame began with the Al-Mashaghibin School in the early seventies, and that God would honor him and give him ownership of an apartment and that he lived there with his mother, and his journey of joy began.”

Regarding their marriage, she said: “Younis was very attached to his mother, because she lived her life for him and refused to marry, even though she was young and very beautiful at the time of his father’s death who would take care of his mother and who understands her connection to him, which is why he delayed marriage until the age of 45.”

Younis married Shalabi in 1986 and had five children: Shaima, Omar, Doaa, Hajar, Sarah, and Amina.

The wife tells about the beginning of sad and miserable days: “Younis was suffering from diabetes when he was 30 years old, and in 1994, when the play Falah was played at the girls’ school, he began to develop diabetes He suffered from gangrene in the toe, and complications due to narrowing of the arteries, and had more than one operation he had a transplant in his legs, including an operation in London that cost 50 thousand dollars, and in 1995 his mother died, that was the biggest crisis in his life.”

She continued: “The day his mother died, he screamed, ‘My arteries died with you, mother.’ After that, his health and mental state declined and he spent large sums of money on treatment and surgery. The union helped, but most of the cost came from his own money.”

She said: “Younes was peaceful in his rights, and once he was benefited by people eating money from him, the situation changed after his illness, but he continued to work even after he suffered from hemiplegia and a stroke, and he did not want to be insulted or insulted. extended his hand to anyone, and a month before his death he participated in a series with Samir Ghanem, because he participated in a few scenes in the film “Birds of Darkness” with Adel Imam, and he worked there the children’s plays, and the work began to decrease, and the number of illnesses increased, and he had to sell much of his property to cover the costs of treatment and operations.”

She talks about the last stage of his life, saying: “He instructed me to educate my children no matter what happened, and in his last days, after several stages of the disease had passed, we heard about a doctor doing a bone marrow transplant, and He actually took a sample of the bone marrow and put it in the neck and went home, and the next day he went to Friday prayers and came back to complained of a bad headache and fell in a care coma for 17 days, after which he died in November 2007 and was buried in the family cemetery in Mansoura.

She describes the life of the family after his death, noting that Shaima, the eldest child, was in the second year at the Faculty of Commerce, and Omar was in the first year at the Faculty of Information, University of October. and the rest of the girls are in different levels of education, and Amina is the youngest in the fourth grade of primary school, and the value of the monthly pension that the family receives is 600 pounds from the Professional Syndicate in Action, and 1,700 pounds from the Ministry of Culture, which is all the income received by the family, which suffered after the death of a breadwinner.