El Hedi ben Salem

El Hedi ben Salem ( 1935 – 1977) was a Moroccan actor, best known for his work with film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Early life Salem was born El Hedi ben Salem m'Barek Mohammed Mustafa in a small village in Morocco to a well to do Hartani family. At the age of 15, he married a 13-year-old girl. He and his wife eventually had five children and settled in a town near the Atlas Mountains. By the early 1970s, Salem had left his wife and children and moved to Europe. Career In early 1971, Salem met German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder at a homosexual sauna in Paris, and the two began a romantic relationship. He moved to Germany with Fassbinder and became a part of the director's entourage. He played several minor roles in Fassbinder's films. Fassbinder eventually cast Salem in the lead role in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), a film that explores xenophobia in post-World War II Germany. In the film, Salem portrays a Moroccan immigrant living in Germany who begins a relationship with an older German woman whom he eventually marries. The film brought Fassbinder worldwide critical acclaim and became Salem’s best known role. Throughout the mid-1970s, Salem continued to appear in Fassbinder’s films in supporting roles. His final onscreen role was in Fassbinder’s romantic drama Fox and His Friends in 1975. Relationship with Fassbinder Salem and Fassbinder's relationship was reportedly tumultuous. They fought frequently due in part to Salem's short temper, which turned violent when he drank. While Salem and Fassbinder were living together in Germany, Fassbinder convinced Salem to bring his two teenaged sons, who lived in Morocco with Salem’s estranged wife, to live with them. Against their mother’s wishes, Salem brought the boys to Germany.