His real name is Ali Khalil Salem, and al-Kassar is his mother’s family nickname, so he took it as his nickname in her honor. He was born on June 13, 1887.
In the Baghala district of Cairo, at the beginning of his life, he practiced the profession of “Al-Srouji”, which his father used to practice, but he did not continue in it, and he was unable to become a professional, so he turned to cooking.
Ali worked as a cook’s assistant for his uncle, when he was nine years old, which gave him the opportunity to mix with the Nubians from doormen and janitors, and to learn their dialect and the way they spoke, but his love for acting was always accompanying him, until he formed an acting group in 1907 and called it “House of representation Al-Zainabi”, then he moved To the Dar Al-Salaam band “Hay Al-Hussein”.
From here, the fame of the comedian began, and his fame spread, especially after he created the character of the barbarian servant “Othman Abdel Basset”, in which he competed with the character “Kashkish Bey”, which was embodied by the late actor Najib Al-Rihani.
Al-Kassar Troupe increased its success after Sheikh Zakaria Ahmed joined it, as he presented it with a set of theatrical melodies. Ali’s success was not limited to Egypt, but he traveled to the Levant and presented his plays there, and succeeded with great success, after which he went through a crisis that leads to the closure of his theater in Cairo after he presented him More than 160 theatrical performances.
The cinema was the most impressive station in Ali al-Kassar’s life, and over the course of 19 years, he presented about 37 films, all revolving around the character of the black-skinned barbarian servant, the most famous of which is
; The Gate of Architecture in 1935, his first film, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Give Me 3 Pounds, One Thousand and One Nights, Noureddine and the Three Sailors, A Bullet in the Heart.
The Invisible Millionaire Al-Kassar became a millionaire because of the works in which he participated; But it did not appear to him at all like the other stars; He preferred not to pretend his money; That is why he was called the invisible millionaire.
Among the secrets that many people may not know about Ali al-Kassar, is that he was not brown-skinned, but was deliberately changing the color of his skin to master the role of the “Osman” character for which he was famous.
Every night before appearing on the stage, Al-Kassar would change the color of his skin using a hidden mixture that no one knew its composition, and it gave him the brown look, which he used to make himself until
He can blend into the character. While Ali al-Kassar laughed at everyone who saw him, the comedian died impoverished by tragedy.
On January 15, 1957, he breathed his last while lying in a third-degree bed in Qasr Al-Aini Hospital, surrounded by his five children and his wife, after a struggle with prostate cancer, and he was 70 years old.