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CULTURE

Prolific Lebanese scriptwriter Marwan Najjar dies at 76

Among his most famous sitcoms are Talbin el-Erb, Bent el-Hay and Min ahla byout Ras Beirut.

Prolific Lebanese scriptwriter Marwan Najjar dies at 76

Lebanese writer and producer Marwan Najjar. (Credit: al-Markaziya)

Lebanese playwright and producer Marwan Najjar passed away at the age of 76 on Tuesday due to cancer.

Originally from Koura, he was born in Beirut in 1946, and had a degree in comparative literature from the American University of Beirut (AUB).

Najjar began by working as a cultural journalist for Ousbouh el-Arabi Magazine and the daily Al-Diyar.

It was then a "happy accident," as he told L'Orient-Le Jour in 2020, that his career took a new turn in the television industry in 1978. This new world offered him "a new expression to meet the public," he explained, and he did so by writing the script of the series Diala.

In 1982, he adapted Georges Feydeau's play "A Flea in Her Ear" to a Lebanese version, which was performed at the Georges V theater in Adonis and at the Piccadilly theater in Hamra. The two stages allowed him "to serve the two sides of a city split in two," in the middle of the civil war.

Najjar then wrote and produced dozens of plays and series with educational scripts that were a mix of social analyses and slices of family life.

Among his most famous sitcoms on the small screen are Talbin el-Erb, Bent el-Hay and Min ahla byout Ras Beirut.

In the early 2000s, he also wrote and produced two films, Mechwar ("The Journey") and Nasmat Sayf ("Summer Breeze").

In a statement, caretaker Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada paid tribute to the scriptwriter:

"With the death of Marwan Najjar, the Lebanese cultural scene loses one of its brightest lights. [Najjar] played a crucial role in the development of the world of fiction, theater and cinema." 

Lebanese playwright and producer Marwan Najjar passed away at the age of 76 on Tuesday due to cancer.Originally from Koura, he was born in Beirut in 1946, and had a degree in comparative literature from the American University of Beirut (AUB).Najjar began by working as a cultural journalist for Ousbouh el-Arabi Magazine and the daily Al-Diyar. It was then a "happy accident," as he told...