Actor Omar Sharif, best known for his roles in classic films Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago, has died aged 83, the BBC reports.

Egypt-born Sharif won two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination for his role as Sherif Ali in David Lean’s 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia.

He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago.

Earlier this year, his agent confirmed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Omar Sharif is best known to the Armenian audience for his role in Mayrig, a 1991 film written and directed by French-Armenian filmmaker Henri Verneuil.

The movie that also stars Claudia Cardinale is about the struggles of an Armenian family that emigrates to France from Turkey after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.