CAIRO, May 11 (Reuters) - Egyptian actor Abdel Rahman Abu Zahra died on Monday at the age of 92, his family said, after spending the last few weeks in intensive medical care due to old age-related illnesses.

His son, Ahmed Abu Zahra, wrote a comment on Facebook accompanied by a picture of the late artist, saying, "His pure soul has ascended to heaven. He who taught me that religion is about how people treat each other, not just appearances, has died. He who taught me that speaking the truth is a sword against the neck, no matter the consequences, that honor, integrity, honesty, and diligence are the characteristics of an honorable person, no matter the challenges and no matter how much time is against him."

He added, "The artist who fought for values and morals has died. He lived his whole life promoting the great values of humanity in all his artistic works. The father, the support, the pillar, the teacher, and the role model has died."

Minister of Culture Jehan Zaki also mourned him in a statement in which she said that the deceased "was a true son of the Egyptian theater, and one of its prominent figures, as his name was associated with the National Theater and he presented on its stage immortal works that contributed to enriching the cultural and artistic movement," stressing that his departure "represents a great loss to the cultural and artistic scene, due to his unique talent and high human and artistic presence."

Abu Zahra was born in 1934 in the coastal governorate of Damietta to a middle-class family. He moved to Cairo with his father, who worked as an Arabic language teacher and died young. His passion for acting began in school theater, where he won his first artistic award, and he later enrolled in the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts.

With the National Theatre, he presented dozens of plays, including (The Case), (Al-Mahrousa), (Al-Farafir), (Al-Sabansa), (Bilad Bara), (Hallaq Baghdad), (L'abat Al-Sultan), and (Qarib wa Gharib).

He participated in hundreds of television series, including (Al-Wasiya), (Al-Tariq), (Al-Zaini Barakat), (Omar Ibn Abdul Aziz), (Awan Al-Ward), (Agent 1001), (Zill Al-Muharib), (Abed Karman), and (Farah Layla), in addition to drama evenings and radio series.

He made a special mark in television drama with the character of Haj Ibrahim Sardina in the series (I Will Not Live in My Father’s Robe), which is based on a story by the writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous and stars Nour El-Sherif, Abla Kamel and Mustafa Metwally.

In cinema, he presented films such as “The Well of Deprivation”, “Back Streets”, “The Truth is Called Salem”, “The Curse”, “Land of Fear”, “Love of Girls”, “The Island”, “Artificial Labor”, “Scarecrow”, and others.

He cared a lot about children, so he presented them with series and programs including (The Land of Happiness), (Once Upon a Time), and (The Most Beautiful Flowers), and he participated in voice acting in international animated films for Disney.