Omar Mukhtar عمر المختار
Born	20 August 1861 Janzour, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania Eyalet
Died	16 September 1931(1931-09-16) (aged 70) Suluq, Italian Libya
Occupation	teacher of the Qur'an
Known for	led native resistance to Italian colonization of Libya
Religion	Islam

Omar Mukhtar (Arabic: عمر المختار Omar Al-Mukhtār) (1862 – September 16, 1931), of the Mnifa,^[1] was born in the small village of Janzour, near Tobruk in eastern Barqa (Cyrenaica) in Libya. Beginning in 1912, he organized and, for nearly twenty years, led native resistance to Italian colonization of Libya. The Italians captured and hanged him in 1931.

Early life[link]

Omar Almukhtar was born in eastern Cyrenaica, Al Butnan District, in the village of East Janzur east of Tobruk. He was orphaned early and was adopted by Sharif El Gariani, nephew of Hussein Ghariani, a political-religious leader in Cyrenaica. He received his early education at the local mosque and then studied for eight years at the Senussi university at Jaghbub, which was also the headquarters of the Senussi Movement. In 1899 he was sent with other Senussi to assist Rabih az-Zubayr in the resistance in Chad against the French.

Italian invasion[link]

In October 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, an Italian naval contingent under the command of Admiral Luigi Faravelli reached the shores of Libya, then a territory subject to Ottoman Turkish control. The admiral demanded that the Turkish administration and garrison surrender their territory to the Italians or incur the immediate destruction of the city of Tripoli.^{[citation needed]} The Turks and their Libyan allies withdrew to the countryside instead of surrendering, and the Italians bombarded the city for three days, then proclaimed the Tripolitanians to be "committed and strongly bound to Italy." This marked the beginning of a series of battles between the Italian colonial forces and the Libyan armed opposition under Omar Mukhtar.^[2]

Guerrilla warfare[link]

A teacher of the Qur'an by profession, Mukhtar was also skilled in the strategies and tactics of desert warfare. He knew local geography well and used that knowledge to advantage in battles against the Italians, who were unaccustomed to desert warfare. Mukhtar repeatedly led his small, highly alert groups in successful attacks against the Italians, after which they would fade back into the desert terrain. Mukhtar’s men skillfully attacked outposts, ambushed troops, and cut lines of supply and communication. The Italian army was left astonished and embarrassed by his guerrilla tactics.^[3]

In the mountainous region of Ghebel Akhdar ("Green Mountain") in 1924, Italian Governor Ernesto Bombelli created a counter-guerrilla force that inflicted a severe setback to rebel forces in April, 1925. Mukhtar then quickly modified his own tactics and was able to count on continued help from Egypt. In March, 1927, despite occupation of Giarabub from February 1926 and increasingly stringent rule under Governor Attilio Teruzzi, Mukhtar surprised Italian troops at Raheiba. Between 1927 and 1928, Mukhtar fully reorganized the Senusite forces, who were being hunted constantly by the Italians. Even General Teruzzi recognized Omar's qualities of "exceptional perseverance and strong will power."

Pietro Badoglio, governor of Libya from January 1929, after extensive negotiations concluded a compromise with Mukhtar (described by the Italians as his complete submission) similar to previous Italo-Senusite accords. At the end of October, 1929, Mukhtar denounced the compromise and reëstablished a unity of action among Libyan forces, preparing himself for the ultimate confrontation with General Rodolfo Graziani, Italian military commander from March 1930.

A massive offensive in June against Mukhtar's forces having failed, Graziani, in full accord with Badoglio, Emilio De Bono (minister of the colonies), and Benito Mussolini, initiated a plan to break Cyrenian resistance: the hundred-thousand population of Gebel would be moved to concentration camps on the coast and the Libyan-Egyptian border from the coast at Giarabub would be closed, preventing any foreign help to the fighters and depriving them of support from the native population. These measures, which Graziani initiated early in 1931, took their toll on the Senusite resistance. The rebels were deprived of help and reinforcements, spied upon, hit by Italian aircraft, and pursued on the ground by the Italian forces aided by local informers and collaborators. Mukhtar continued to struggle despite increased hardships and risks, but on September 11, 1931, he was ambushed near Slonta.

Mukhtar's final adversary, Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, has given a description of the Senusite leader that is not lacking in respect: "Of medium height, stout, with white hair, beard and mustache. Omar was endowed with a quick and lively intelligence; was knowledgeable in religious matters, and revealed an energetic and impetuous character, unselfish and uncompromising; ultimately, he remained very religious and poor, even though he had been one of the most important Senusist figures." Today Mukhtar is a famous man in Libya.

Capture and execution[link]

Mukhtar’s struggle of nearly twenty years came to an end on September 11, 1931, when he was wounded in battle near Slonta, then captured by the Italian army. The Italians treated the native leader hero as a prize catch. His resilience had an impact on his jailers, who later remarked upon his steadfastness.^{[citation needed]} His interrogators stated that Mukhtar recited verses of peace from the Qur'an.^{[citation needed]}

In three days, Mukhtar was tried, convicted, and, on September 14, 1931, sentenced to be hanged publicly (historians and scholars have questioned whether his trial was fair or impartial[6]). When asked if he wished to say any last words, Mukhtar replied with a Qur'anic phrase: "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un." ("To God we belong and to Him we shall return."). On September 16, 1931, on the orders of the Italian court and with Italian hopes that Libyan resistance would die with him, Mukhtar was hanged before his followers in the concentration camp of Suluq at the age of 82 years.

Legacy[link]

Today, Mukhtar's face appears on the Libyan ten-dinar bill.

His final years were depicted in the movie Lion of the Desert (1981), starring Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, and Irene Papas. It was based on the struggles of Mukhtar against Rodolfo Graziani's forces.

In 2009, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi wore a photograph of Mukhtar hanging on his chest while on a state visit to Rome, and brought along Mukhtar's elderly son during the visit.^[4]

With the Libyan uprising beginning February 17, 2011, Omar Mukhtar again became a symbol for a united, free Libya and his picture is depicted on various flags and posters of the Free Libya movement. Rebel forces named one of their brigades the "Omar Mukhtar brigade" after him.^[5]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Omar Mukhtar

• Italian occupation and resistance
• Secret proceedings in the Benghazi trial
• Why Libya Commemorates the 'Black Day'
• Lion of the Desert (1981) at the Internet Movie Database
• Omar Al-Mokhtar - Lion of The Desert

For other people named Anthony Quinn see Anthony Quinn (disambiguation).

Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn in 1988
Born	Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (1915-04-21)April 21, 1915 Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico
Died	June 3, 2001(2001-06-03) (aged 86) Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation	Actor, painter, writer, film director
Years active	1936–2001
Spouse	Katherine DeMille (1937–65; 5 children) Jolanda Addolori (1966–97; 3 Children) Kathy Benvin (1997–2001; 2 children)
Partner	Friedel Dunbar (2 children)

Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican and American actor, as well as a painter and writer. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia, The Guns of Navarone, The Message, Guns for San Sebastian, Lion of the Desert and Federico Fellini's La Strada. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice; for Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Lust for Life in 1956.

Early life[link]

Quinn was born Antonio Reyes in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, during the Mexican Revolution. His mother, Manuela "Nellie" Oaxaca, was of Aztec Indian ancestry.^[1][2] His father, Francisco Quinn, was also born in Mexico, to an Irish immigrant father from County Cork and a Mexican mother.^[3] Frank Quinn rode with Pancho Villa, then later moved to Los Angeles and became an assistant cameraman at a movie studio. In Quinn's autobiography The Original Sin: A Self-Portrait by Anthony Quinn he denied being the son of an "Irish adventurer" and attributed that tale to Hollywood publicists.^[4]

When he was six years old, Quinn attended a Catholic church (even thinking he wanted to become a priest). At age eleven, however, he joined the Pentecostals in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (the Pentecostal followers of Aimee Semple McPherson).^[5]

Quinn grew up first in El Paso, Texas, and later the Boyle Heights and the Echo Park areas of Los Angeles, California. He attended Hammel Street Elementary School, Belvedere Junior High School, Polytechnic High School and finally Belmont High School with future baseball player and General Hospital star, John Beradino, but left before graduating. Tucson High School in Arizona, many years later, awarded him an honorary high school diploma.

As a young man Quinn boxed professionally to earn money, then studied art and architecture under Frank Lloyd Wright, both at Wright's Arizona residence and his Wisconsin studio, Taliesin. The two very different men became friends. When Quinn mentioned he was drawn to acting, Wright encouraged him. Quinn said he had been offered $800 a week by a film studio and didn't know what to do. Wright replied, "Take it, you'll never make that much with me."^{[cite this quote]}

In a rerun of an interview done with Anthony Quinn in 1999 for Turner Classic Movies' "Private Screenings with Robert Osborne" (repeated April 21, 2009), Mr. Quinn said that the contract was for $300 a week.

Career[link]

After a short time performing on the stage, Quinn launched his film career performing character roles in the 1936 films Parole (his debut) and The Milky Way. He played "ethnic" villains in Paramount films such as Dangerous to Know (1938) and Road to Morocco, and played a more sympathetic Crazy Horse in They Died with Their Boots On with Errol Flynn. By 1947, he had appeared in over 50 films and had played Indians, Mafia dons, Hawaiian chiefs, Filipino freedom-fighters, Chinese guerrillas, and Arab sheiks, but was still not a major star. He returned to the theater, playing Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway. In 1947, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.^[2]

as Eufemio Zapata with Marlon Brando's Emiliano Zapata in Viva Zapata! (1952)

He came back to Hollywood in the early 1950s, specializing in tough roles. He was cast in a series of B-adventures such as Mask of the Avenger (1951). His big break came from playing opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! (1952). Quinn wanted to play the lead role of Zapata but Brando coming off his recent success in the film Streetcar Named Desire was Kazan's first choice. However his supporting role as Zapata's brother won Quinn an Oscar while Brando lost the Oscar for Best Actor to Gary Cooper in High Noon. He was the first Mexican-American to win any Academy Award. He appeared in several Italian films starting in 1953, turning in one of his best performances as a dim-witted, thuggish and volatile strongman in Federico Fellini's La strada (1954) opposite Giulietta Masina. Quinn won his second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor by portraying the painter Paul Gauguin in Vincente Minnelli's van Gogh biographical film, Lust for Life (1956). The award was remarkable as he was on screen for only 8 minutes. The following year, he received an Oscar nomination for his part in George Cukor's Wild Is the Wind. In The River's Edge (1957), he played the husband of the former girlfriend (played by Debra Paget) of a killer (Ray Milland), who turns up with a stolen fortune and forces Quinn and Paget at gunpoint to guide him safely to Mexico. Quinn starred in The Savage Innocents 1959 (film) as Inuk, an Eskimo who finds himself caught between two clashing cultures.

Quinn in his Oscar nominated role for Zorba the Greek

As the decade ended, Quinn allowed his age to show and began his transformation into a major character actor. His physique filled out, his hair grayed, and his once smooth, swarthy face weathered and became more rugged. He played a Greek resistance fighter in The Guns of Navarone (1961), an ideal ex-boxer in Requiem for a Heavyweight, and a natural for the role of Auda abu Tayi in Lawrence of Arabia (both 1962). That year he also played the title role in Barabbas, based on a novel by Pär Lagerkvist. The success of Zorba the Greek in 1964 was the high water mark of his career and resulted in another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Other films include The 25th Hour (1967), with Virna Lisi; The Magus (1968), with Michael Caine and Candice Bergen, and based on the novel by John Fowles; La Bataille de San Sebastian (Guns for San Sebastian) with Charles Bronson; and The Shoes of the Fisherman, where he played a Ukrainian pope. In 1969, he starred in The Secret of Santa Vittoria with Anna Magnani.

He appeared on Broadway to great acclaim in Becket, as King Henry II to Laurence Olivier's Thomas Becket in 1960. An erroneous story arose in later years that during the run, Quinn and Olivier switched roles and Quinn played Becket to Olivier's King. In fact, Quinn left the production for a film, never having played Becket, and director Peter Glenville suggested a road tour with Olivier as Henry. Olivier happily agreed and Arthur Kennedy took on the role of Becket for the tour and brief return to Broadway.^[6][7]

Quinn circa 1970s

In 1971, after the success of a TV movie named The City, where Quinn played Mayor Thomas Jefferson Alcala, he starred in the single-season ABC television series entitled The Man and the City. Though the program was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the name of the city is not disclosed on the program. His subsequent television appearances were sporadic, among them Jesus of Nazareth.

In 1977, he starred in the movie Mohammad, Messenger of God (also known as The Message), about the origin of Islam, as Hamzah, a highly revered warrior instrumental in the early stages of Islam. In 1980, he starred in the Lion of the Desert, together with Irene Papas, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud. Quinn played the real-life Bedouin leader Omar Mukhtar who fought Benito Mussolini's Italian troops in the deserts of Libya. The film, produced and directed by Moustapha Akkad, is now critically acclaimed, but performed poorly at the box office because of negative publicity in the West at the time of its release, stemming from its having been partially funded by Libya. In 1983, he reprised his most famous role, playing Zorba the Greek for 362 performances in a successful revival of the Kander and Ebb musical Zorba. Quinn performed in this musical both on Broadway in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C,

Quinn's film career slowed during the 1990s, but he nonetheless continued to work steadily, appearing in Revenge (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Last Action Hero (1993), A Walk in the Clouds (1995) and Seven Servants (1996). In 1994, he played Zeus in the five TV movies that led to the syndicated series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. (However, he did not continue in the actual series, and the role was eventually filled by several other actors).

Quinn made an appearance at the John Gotti trial, according to John H. Davis, author of Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. He told reporters he wanted to play Paul Castellano, the boss of the Gambino family after Carlo Gambino. Gotti had Castellano murdered, becoming the boss of the Gambino family thereafter. Gotti was on trial concerning a variety of felony charges when Quinn visited the court room. Although he tried to shake hands with Gotti, federal marshals prevented him from doing so, Davis says. The actor interpreted the testimony of Sammy ("The Bull") Gravano, Gotti's underboss, against Gotti as "a friend who betrays a friend." He hadn't come to "judge" Gotti, Quinn insisted, but because he wanted to portray Castellano, who inspired the actor because he had had a "thirty-year-old" mistress, which Quinn believed was "a beautiful thing." He would later portray Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce in the 1996 HBO film Gotti. Armand Assante portrayed John Gotti and Richard C. Sarafian portrayed Paul Castellano. Quinn was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as Dellacroce.

Painting and writing[link]

Art critic Donald Kuspit, explains, "examining Quinn's many expressions of creativity together—his art and acting—we can see that he was a creative genius..."^[8]

Early in life Quinn had interest in painting and drawing. Throughout his teenage years he won various art competitions in California and focused his studies at Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles on drafting. Later, Quinn studied briefly under Frank Lloyd Wright through the Taliesin Fellowship—an opportunity created by winning first prize in an architectural design contest. Through Wright's recommendation, Quinn took acting lessons as a form of post-operative speech therapy, which led to an acting career that spanned over six decades.

Apart from art classes taken in Chicago during the 1950s, Quinn never attended art school; nonetheless, taking advantage of books, museums, and amassing a sizable collection, he managed to give himself an effective education in the language of modern art. Although Quinn remained mostly self-taught, intuitively seeking out and exploring new ideas, there is observable history in his work because he had assiduously studied the modernist masterpieces on view in the galleries of New York, Mexico City, Paris, and London. When filming on location around the world, Quinn was exposed to regional contemporary art styles exhibited at local galleries and studied art history in each area.

In an endless search for inspiration, he was influenced by his Mexican ancestry, decades of residency in Europe, and lengthy stays in Africa and the Middle East while filming in the 1970s and 1980s.

By the early 1980s, his work had caught the eyes of various gallery owners and was exhibited internationally, in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Mexico City. His work is now represented in both public and private collections throughout the world.

He wrote two memoirs, The Original Sin (1972) and One Man Tango (1997), a number of scripts, and a series of unpublished stories currently in the collection of his archive.

Personal life[link]

Quinn with his son Lorenzo at the 40th Annual Emmy Awards, August 28, 1988

Quinn's personal life was as volatile and passionate as the characters he played in films. His first wife was the adopted daughter of Cecil B. DeMille, the actress Katherine DeMille, whom he married in 1937. The couple had five children: Christopher (born 1939), Christina (born December 1, 1941), Catalina (born November 21, 1942), Duncan (born August 4, 1945), and Valentina (born December 26, 1952).^[9] Their first child, Christopher, aged 2, drowned in the swimming pool of next-door neighbor W.C. Fields.^[9] In 1965, Quinn and DeMille were divorced due to his affair with Italian costume designer Jolanda Addolori whom he married in 1966. They had three children: Francesco (March 22, 1963 – August 5, 2011), Danny (born April 16, 1964), and Lorenzo (born May 7, 1966). The union ended in 1997, after Quinn fathered children with his secretary, Katherine Benvin. He then married Benvin, with whom he had two children, Antonia (born July 23, 1993) and Ryan Nicholas (born July 5, 1996).^[10][11] Quinn and Benvin remained together until his death.

Quinn also fathered two other children with Friedel Dunbar: Sean Quinn (born February 7, 1973), a New Jersey real estate agent, and Alexander Anthony Quinn (born December 30, 1976), an event producer in Los Angeles, CA.^[11][12]

Death[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Quinn spent his last years in Bristol, Rhode Island. He died aged 86 in Boston, Massachusetts from pneumonia and respiratory failure while suffering from throat cancer shortly after completing his role in his last film, Avenging Angelo (2002).

His funeral was held in the First Baptist Church in America in the College Hill section of Providence, Rhode Island; late in life, he had joined the Foursquare evangelical Christian community. He is buried in a family plot in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Tributes[link]

Anthony Quinn, hand & footprints outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre

There is a statue of Anthony Quinn (originally from Chihuahua) doing his famous "Zorba the Greek" dance In Chihuahua Mexico^[13]

On January 5, 1982, the Belvedere County Public Library in East Los Angeles was renamed in honor of Anthony Quinn. The present library sits on the site of his family's former home.^[14]

There is an Anthony Quinn Bay and Beach in Rhodes, Dodecanese, Greece, just 2.7 miles (4.3 km) south of the village of Faliraki (aka Falirakion or Falirákion).^[15][16] The land was bought by Quinn during the filming of The Guns of Navarone in Rhodes; however, it was reclaimed by the Greek government in 1984 due to a change in property law.^[17]

The National Council of La Raza gives the Anthony Quinn Award for excellence in motion pictures as an ALMA Award.

Filmography[link]

Short subjects[link]

• Van Gogh: Darkness Into Light (1956)
• San Sebastian 1746 in 1968 (1968)
• The Voice of La Raza (1972) (narrator)
• The Assassination of Julius Caesar (1972)

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anthony Quinn

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Anthony Quinn

• The Estate of Anthony Quinn
• Anthony Quinn's artwork
• Anthony Quinn at the TCM Movie Database
• Anthony Quinn at the Internet Movie Database
• Anthony Quinn at the Internet Broadway Database

• Becker, Josh. "Directing Anthony Quinn"
• The Making of Lawrence of Arabia, BAFTA Journal, Winter 1962-3
• "Unquelled Persona: encountering the artwork of Anthony Quinn", ArtsEditor.com, 2008

Mohammad Mosaddegh
60th and 62nd Prime Minister of Iran
In office 28 April 1951 – 16 July 1952
Monarch	Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Deputy	Hossein Fatemi
Preceded by	Hossein Ala'
Succeeded by	Ahmad Qavam
In office 21 July 1952 – 19 August 1953
Monarch	Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
Deputy	Ahmad Zirakzadeh
Preceded by	Ahmad Qavam
Succeeded by	Fazlollah Zahedi
Leader of National Front
In office 1 January 1949 – 5 March 1967
Deputy	Karim Sanjabi
Preceded by	Party created
Succeeded by	Karim Sanjabi
Member of Parliament of Iran
In office 1 May 1920 – 1 May 1948
Constituency	Tehran
Personal details
Born	(1882-06-16)16 June 1882 Tehran, Iran
Died	5 March 1967(1967-03-05) (aged 84) Ahmadabad-e Mosaddeq, Iran
Political party	National Front
Spouse(s)	Zia od-Saltane (1901-1965)
Children	5
Religion	Shi'a Islam
Signature

Mohammad Mosaddegh or Mosaddeq (Persian: محمد مصدق‎, IPA: [mohæmˈmæd(-e) mosædˈdeɣ] ( listen)*), also spelled Mossadegh, Mossadeq, Mosadeck, or Musaddiq (16 June 1882 – 5 March 1967), was the Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 until being overthrown in a coup d'état in 1953.

His administration introduced a wide range of social and political reforms but is most notable for its nationalization of the Iranian oil industry, which had been under British control since 1913 through the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC/AIOC) (later British Petroleum or BP).^[1]

Mosaddegh was removed from power in a coup on 19 August 1953, organised and carried out by the United States CIA at the request of the British MI6 which chose Iranian General Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Mosaddegh.^[2]

The coup is sometimes known as the TPAJAX Project^[3] after its CIA cryptonym, however, in Iran it is referred to as the 28 Mordad 1332 coup, after its date on the Iranian calendar.^[4], which is incorrect as the Operation's proper name was TPAjax (TP standing for Tudeh Party of Iran the Russian backed communist party of Iran} Mosaddegh was imprisoned for three years, then put under house arrest until his death.