In The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Omar Sharif played Sohamus, king of Armenia, in Anthony Mann’s vast historical epic about the decline of Rome in the second century. The film, with a cast led by Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd and Alec Guinness, gave Sharif a princely role in the grand manner of the old studio epics.
Sohamus is loyal, honourable and caught between empires, and Sharif plays him with the same quiet authority he had brought to Lawrence of Arabia. The film, though not a success on its first release, has since been admired for its scale and seriousness, and Sharif’s presence adds a touch of romance and dignity to its story of a world in decline.