Leila Mourad

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Layla Murad (Arabic: ليلى مراد‎; Hebrew: לילה מוראד‎; February 17, 1918- November 21, 1995) was a Jewish-Egyptian singer and actress. She is also credited as "Layla Murad".

Life

Layla Murad was born in Alexandria on February 17, 1918 to Ibrahim Zaki Mordechai and Gamilah Salmon. Her father was a respected singer, musician, and religious cantor, (Hazzan). Her mother was a Jewish Egyptian of Polish origin. One of her brothers, Mounir Mourad, was an actor and composer.

She made her first stage appearance, aged nine, at the Saalat Badi'a, one of Cairo's most successful music halls. The theatre had been founded in 1926 by the actress and dancer Badi'a Masabni, who became Mourad's patron. Her first film appearance, aged fifteen, was in the 1932 al-Dahaya (The Victims) which had originally been made as a silent film. Her song, "The Day of Departure", was added as part of the transformation of the production into a "talkie".