Omar Sharif, 83, Suffering From Alzheimer's

Legendary actor Omar Sharif is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, his son says.

The 83-year-old star of “Doctor Zhivago” and “Lawrence of Arabia” has been struggling with the brain illness for three years, and now has difficulty remembering his famous films, said son Tarek El-Sharif.

“My father has Alzheimer's,” he told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “It's difficult to determine what stage it's at. It's obvious he'll never improve and it will get worse.

“There are times of the day when he's better and others in which he feels confused.

“He still knows he's a famous actor. The loss of memory affects above all specific things, details like when he was in a specific place or who he acted with in a specific film.”

El-Sharif said that his father asks about his mother, forgetting she died in January.

Sharif has a history of heart problems and was a heavy smoker most of his life. He underwent a triple heart bypass in 1992 and suffered a mild heart attack two years later. He smoked five packs of cigarettes a day until his bypass.

In one of his final movies in 2009, Sharif played an Alzheimer's patient in the French film “I Forgot to Tell You.”