Mohammad-Ali Fardin

Mohammad-Ali Fardin — Biography

Mohammad-Ali Fardin was the most watched face of Iranian cinema from the 1960s until the 1979 revolution. His part in Soltane Ghalbha gave audiences the name they used for him, "King of Hearts". Known first as a freestyle wrestler, he worked as an actor and also as a director, screenwriter and producer, until the post-revolutionary work ban cut his career short.

He grew up in a poor district of southern Tehran, the eldest of three children. After high school he joined the air force, turned to wrestling in his twenties, won a silver medal at the 1954 World Championships and finished fourth in 1957. He reached the screen at producer Ismail Kushan's invitation, in Cheshme Ab Hayat (1959). Between 1961 and 1976 he appeared in the most popular film of each year, usually as the poor young man with a generous heart who wins the girl at the end. Ganj-e Qarun, Baba Shamal, Ayyoob, Hell + Me and Jabbar, Runaway Sergeant stand out from this period, and he also took part in the Indian-Iranian co-production Subah-o-Shyam.

His post-revolution film The Imperilled (Barzakhi-ha, 1982) broke box-office records but was soon banned, and its lead actors were barred from working. Fardin opened a pastry shop. He died of cardiac arrest on 6 April 2000 and was buried at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery; more than twenty thousand mourners attended.