Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian living at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport who inspired Steven Spielberg’s movie “The Terminal,” died of a heart attack Saturday in the airport’s Terminal 2F.
His death was confirmed by the Associated Press, which wrote that police and medical professionals were ultimately unable to save Nasseri. The report said officials said Naseri had been living at the airport again in recent weeks.
Nasseri, who was also called “Sir Alfred”, lived in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport. He first settled in space in 1988 after Great Britain refused him political asylum as a refugee, despite claiming to have a Scottish mother.
After declaring himself stateless, his stay at the airport became a deliberate choice. Nasseri reportedly always kept his luggage by his side, spending time reading, journaling and studying economics. He first left the airport when he was hospitalized in 2006, 18 years after he first settled in the terminal.
His unusual situation became the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s 2004 film “The Terminal,” starring Tom Hanks as an Eastern European man who resides at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after being denied entry to the United States. In 2003, The New York Times reported that Spielberg had bought the rights to Nasseri’s life story through his production company DreamWorks, paying around $250,000.
Nasseri also served as the inspiration for the 1993 French film Tombés du ciel, starring Jean Rochefort. Released internationally under the title ‘Lost in Transit’, the film followed a man who was stuck in an airport for several days after losing his passport. In addition to the narrative film, Nasseri has also been the subject of numerous documentaries and journalistic profiles.
Nasseri also wrote an autobiography titled “The Terminal Man”, published in 2004.
Believed to have been born in 1945 in the Iranian city of Masjed Soleiman, Nasseri was around 76 years old when he died.
