Sallah

Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir, better known as Sallah (Arabic: صلاح‎), is a fictional character played by Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies in two of the four Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also appears in various comics and novels, and is featured in the Disney theme park attractions, the Indiana Jones Adventure and The Great Movie Ride.

Character

Sallah is a hefty, bearded Egyptian excavator. He lives in Cairo and is a close friend of Indiana Jones. He is a dedicated family man with a wife named Fayah and nine children, all of whom seem to have a fondness for Indiana (at one point they all surround him to save him from a group of Nazis who have their guns drawn on him). Sallah is depicted as being jovial, good natured, and occasionally cowardly (when seeing the numerous asps inside the room that houses the Ark of the Covenant, he suggests to Indiana, "You go first"), although Sallah does not suffer from a fear of snakes as does Indy. He seems to be extremely strong, although he is apparently unaware of his enormous strength (at one point, he gives Indiana a bear hug, causing him a great deal of discomfort, probably because Indy had just been shot in the arm). He has a strong baritone voice and he seems to have an affinity for Gilbert and Sullivan. He is often seen singing tunes from H.M.S. Pinafore when he is in a good mood. In Raiders of the Lost Ark he is mostly seen wearing a turban (perhaps to blend in with the other diggers working for the Nazis), and in The Last Crusade he is seen wearing a fez.