Omar Sharif was horrified by Julie Christie’s habit on Doctor Zhivago

On screen the grand set-pieces looked spectacular and convincing as did the central passionate affair. But behind the scenes, that was also far less glamorous and passionate than it appeared.

Hilariously, it was Christie’s love of a good old-fashioned British egg sandwich that caused the problem, especially when it came to the romantic scenes, according to her fco-star’s grandson Omar Sharif Jr.

He said: “My grandfather told me he’d come from Egypt and had never seen a sandwich before but Julie would just pull them out of everywhere. He was like, ‘Where are these coming from?’. Between virtually every take she’d pull one of these sandwiches out. Then she’d have crumbs all over herself and when it came time to kiss her, she’d have this sandwich breath.”

“She was gorgeous but he’d say, ‘What’s with this sandwich girl?’ That’s what he called her, the Sandwich Girl.”