| Mary Queeny | |
| Birth Name: | Mary Boutros Younis |
| Birth Place: | Tannourine, Lebanon |
| Death Place: | Cairo, Egypt |
| Years Active: | 1913–2003 |
| Nationality: | Egyptian |
| Children: | Nader Galal |
| Spouse: | Ahmed (or Ahmad) Galal |
Mary Queeny (Arabic: ماري كويني; 1913-2003) is the stage name of Mary Boutros Younis, was a Lebanese-born Egyptian actress and film producer.
Mary Boutros Younis was born in 1913 to a Lebanese Christian family in Lebanon. Her mother's cousin was Asaad Dagher, a writer and journalist at the Al-Ahram newspaper.
In 1923 Queeny moved to Cairo with her aunt, actress and film producer Assia Dagher, and started acting in 1929.[1] Her first role was in 1929 in the film Ghadat al-sahara (The Desert Beauty), and she went on to star in all of her aunt's subsequent films.
Queeny became a popular actress and producer in a pioneering age of Egyptian cinema. She appeared in 20 films and was among the first women in Egypt to appear on screen without a veil.[1]
Queeny married Ahmed (or Ahmad) Galal[2] (1897-1947)[3] in 1940.[4] Until her retirement in 1982, she produced all of the films he directed. With her husband she founded Galal Films in 1942; in 1944 it became Galal Studios. During the Golden Age of Egyptian film, it was one of the five largest studios.[5] The first films shot at the studios were Om al-Saad, Amirat al-Ahlam (Princess of Dreams) and Aoudat al-Gha'eb (The Return of the Departed). After her husband's sudden death in 1947, Queeny and her son, Nader Galal, continued to run the studios.[6] The studios were later nationalised by the Nasser government.[5]
In 1958 she established a film colour processing laboratory, which in 1963 she sold to the Misr Company (later Misr International), which was later acquired by Youssef Chahine and his niece, Marianne Khoury.[1]
Film director Nader Galal is the son of Queeny and Ahmad Galal.[5] Ahmed Nader Galal is their grandson, son of Nader, and is an actor. He graduated from the directing course at the Higher Institute of Cinema in Cairo 1997.[7]
Queeny died on 23 November 2003 in Cairo of a heart attack. She was 90.[1]