Lebanese director, writer and actor Sami Kayat, considered one of the most prominent faces of comedy in Lebanon, died on Wednesday at the age of 79, his daughter Sabine Kayat confirmed to AFP.

Kayad died Wednesday evening at Risk 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 on December 2, 1943, Khayat has produced around 62 satirical works since 1960. Even during the harshest phases of the war Lebanon witnessed between 1975 and 1990, his almost annual works were displayed for months at a time.

Kayad, who holds degrees in law and political science, has degrees in contemporary literature and linguistics, and in his works his wife Naila represents a fusion of the French language and the Lebanese language. In 2023 he published a book “Al-Branbani”.

He sometimes contented himself with French alone and attracted a wide range of francophones and intellectuals, and in 2020 he received the French Medal of Arts and Letters with officer rank, in recognition of his work. A restless movement on stage, he satirically dealt with political and social conditions in his plays, and imitated some faces. .

The Actors Syndicate in Lebanon said, “Comedy theater has lost, with the death of Kayath, an essential pillar of its creation,” describing the deceased as “a special, educated person”. agencies