TCM's Omar Sharif programming tribute

Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia (not airing tonight)

Omar Sharif died back in July. Thanks to the schedule that month and then with August being Summer Under the Stars, TCM didn't have the chance to do a proper tribute for some time. So that programming tribute is coming up tonight in prime time. Due to the length of the movies being shown, TCM only has three movies.

First up at 8:00 PM is Doctor Zhivago, one that I've commented on several times in the past. Sure, I don't like it, but it's one that certainly needs to be shown in an Omar Sharif salute, since he was the star and it is one of the movies he's most generally associated with.

That will be followed at 11:30 PM by Funny Girl. Obviously Sharif isn't playing the title role here, although it might have made for an interesting movie if he were in the title role. No; the "funny girl" here is Barbra Streisand, playing early 20th century stage entertainer Fanny Brice. Sharif plays Nicky Arnstein, a gangster who was also the boyfriend of Brice for a while.

Sharif and Streisand return at 2:30 PM to reprise their roles in Funny Lady. This one looks at Brice's relationship with impresario Billy Rose (James Caan). You might remember that name from the early 1960s musical Billy Rose's Jumbo, although Rose isn't a character there. Rose also does not appear as a character in 11:30 PM's Funny Girl.