Merhan Karimi Nasseri, the real-life man who inspired Steven Spielberg’s film The Terminal, has died at the airport where he had lived for 18 years. The Iranian is believed to have been born in 1945, but was left in legal limbo at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France in 1988, apparently without residency papers. He lived there until 2006, when he was hospitalized and his position was dismantled, with Nasseri cared for by the airport’s French Red Cross branch after his release from hospital, before being housed in a Paris shelter from 2008. According to local reports, an airport official claimed he had been living at the airport again for the past few weeks until his death shortly before noon on Saturday. Nasseri is said to have died of natural causes at Terminal 2F, believed to be a heart attack, an airport official told AFP, with police and medics unable to save him. His story inspired Spielberg’s 2004 film The Terminal, in which Tom Hanks played Viktor Navorsky, an Eastern European who gets stuck in a New York airport when he is denied entry, but is also unable to return to his home country due to military coup. He had been back at the airport in recent weeks (Image: DB Isernhagen / Avalon) Naseri called himself “Sir Alfred” after his case became known around the world and claimed a small section of the airport as his home. Born in Masjed Soleiman, in Iran’s Khuzestan province, Nasser traveled to London, Berlin and Amsterdam in an attempt to locate his mother, but was turned away from every country he landed in after he was unable to produce the correct documents. He developed an informal support network at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, with people providing him with food and medical assistance, as well as a radio and books while he was away for hours. Naseri was granted refugee status and the right to remain in France in 1999, but chose not to leave the airport.
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He said at the time: “I’m not sure what I want to do, stay in Roissy or leave. I have papers, I can stay here, I think I should carefully study all the options before making a decision.’ His lawyer, Christian Bourguet, said at the time: “He no longer wants to leave the airport. He is afraid to go.’ Do you have a story? If you have a celebrity story, video or photos, please contact Metro.co.uk’s entertainment team by emailing us at [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or visiting the Submit information page – I’d love to hear from you you. MORE: Strictly Come Dancing’s Shirley Ballas highlights Dianne Buswell’s name after previous mistakes MORE: Kym Marsh breaks down in tears after emotional dedication of Strictly Come Dancing performance to late son
