VENICE, Italy – Omar Sharif, whose devilishly handsome looks delighted female fans decades ago, has returned to the big screen at the Venice Film Festival Thursday in a film about an elderly man's encounter with a woman he loved in his youth.

"The Traveler," an Egyptian film by first-time feature director Ahmed Maher, is vying for the festival's Golden Lion award.

Maher told reporters he came up with the project nine years ago.

"It's a dream to have Omar Sharif in the cast," Maher said.

The film goes over three days in the life of 80-year-old Hassan, played by the 77-year-old Sharif. After a chance meeting with Noura, a woman from his past played by Cyrine Abdel Nour, he meets her daughter, Nadia. Seeking a source of identity, he tries to become one of the family.

Shifting with ease between Italian and French at a news conference, Sharif — who began his film career in Egypt and went on to become an international sex symbol in "Lawrence of Arabia," his first English-language film, and "Doctor Zhivago" — glanced back at his life.

"I am the only actor in the world that doesn't have a center to my life. I've lived in hotels all my life and I eat in restaurants — always," he laughed. "I've had a happy life, no reason to cry."

He said he'd had "some adventures with women" but only one "great love" — in his marriage, which ended in 1974.

Sharif said it took years to gain freedom in his career, describing himself as the only Egyptian and Muslim in the Hollywood system when he started out.