Rabab... Hekmet Fahmy Egyptian Bellydancer

Hekmet Fahmy in the film Rabab. In this movie she plays the part of an actress named Sa3deia. This scene is a theater show within the film and has Hekmet playing the part of a slave girl who is being auctioned and is told to dance. The part of Rabab is played by Lebanese actress Mary Queeny. In this film Hekmet Fahmy dances with a veil which proves that Samia Gamal was certainly not the first Egyptian dancer to do so. Hekmet Fahmy only made six films in spite of being the most well known dancer of her time. She was the star dancer at Mary Mansour's club and at Badia Masabny's club as well long before the days of Samia Gamal and Taheya Carioca. Her fame came before the heyday of Egyptian cinema which is why not too much footage of her exists. Hekmet Fahmy was the most famous dancer of her day. She was born in 1907 and her dream was to become a famous theater actress. She began working with Ali El Kassar's theater group in the 20's. By 1927 she had left the group and was working at Badia Masabni's sala. She and Badia were very close and would often go together to important parties of political figures and wealthy friends. She was also the star attraction at Mary Mansour's sala. She soon became the most sought after dancer in Cairo, and her fame rivaled even Madame Badia's. She moved in high class circles, and Hekmet was invited to dance for the rich and famous of many countries. She was the only bellydancer to dance in front of Hitler and Mussolini. She was the most well known dancer of her time. Until her espionage episode. Because of the fact that she moved in elite circles, she had access to many important people and officers. However, her extreme dislike of the British got her involved in espionage and she began spying for the Germans. She was discovered and arrested. In 1942 the British sentenced her to five years in prison. This was the kiss of death for her career. By the time she was released from prison, she was 40 years old, and a new crop of younger talented dancers had arrived on the scene like Samia Gamal and Taheya Carioca who were in their 20's. She could no longer compete. In 1947 she made a movie called El Moutasharida which flopped miserably at the box office. In the movie, she lip synched the singing scenes and they used Shadia's voice for them. She retired after this failure. She died in Egypt in 1974 at age 67.
Source Article: http://yabeyrouth.net/content/view/34024/5/