Mary Queeny

She was born Mary Boutros Younis in 1913 to a Lebanese Christian family in Lebanon. Her mother's cousin was Asaad Dagher, a writer and journalist at the Al-Ahram newspaper. In 1923 she moved to Cairo with her aunt, actress and film producer Assia Dagher.[1] She took the name Mary Queeny when she was 12. She married Egyptian film actor and director Ahmad Galal[2] in 1940. Their son is film director Nader Galal. Until her retirement in 1982, she produced all of the films he directed.[3]

Queeny became a popular actress and producer in a pioneering age of Egyptian cinema. Her first role was in 1929 in the film Ghadat al-sahara (The Desert Beauty). She went on to star in all of her aunt's subsequent films.[3] She appeared in 20 films and was among the first women in Egypt to appear on screen without a veil.[1]

With her husband she founded Galal Films in 1942; in 1944 it became Galal Studios. During the Golden Age of Egyptian film, it was one of the five largest studios.[3] In 1958 she established a film colour processing laboratory, which in 1963 she sold to the Misr Company, now Misr International, which was later acquired by Youssef Chahine and his niece, Marianne Khoury.[1]

Queeny died on 23 November 2003 in Cairo of a heart attack. She was 90.[1]

• Mary Queeny at IMDb 
• Mary Queeny filmography