El Hedi ben Salem

Actor

Biography

El Hedi ben Salem was a Moroccan actor. He is best known as the lover and collaborator of provocative German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He died of a heart attack while in prison. Fassbinder dedicated his last film, Querelle (1982), to Salem. In 2012, a documentary on Salem's life entitled My Name Is Not Ali, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival.