Exiled Iranian who inspired Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Terminal’ dies at Paris airport

Mehran Karimi Naseri, the Iranian exile who inspired filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Terminal’ at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, died of a heart attack in the same airport’s Terminal 2F on Saturday, Variety reported.

Mehran, who goes by the moniker Sir Alfred, has been back living at the airport in recent weeks, the outlet shared. He lived in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Mehran Karimi Naseri shaves early in the morning in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

It was only in 1988 that Mehran first settled at an airport after the United Kingdom refused him political asylum despite having a Scottish mother.

According to Variety, he deliberately chose to live at the airport after declaring himself stateless, and reportedly kept his luggage close at hand at all times.

Mehran Karimi Naseri sleeps early in the morning in Terminal 1 of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Mehran, who first left the airport when he was hospitalized in 2006, 18 years after first settling there, spent his time reading, writing diary entries and studying economics, Variety reported.

Spielberg decided to make the 2004 film ‘The Terminal’ based on his unusual circumstances. John F. of New York after being denied entry into the United States. Tom Hanks plays an Eastern European man who lives at Kennedy Airport.

Mehran Karimi Naseri looks at the poster of the film based on his life

Apart from this, the 1993 French film ‘Tombes du ciel,’ starring Jean Rochefort and inspired by Mehran, has been the subject of numerous documentaries and magazine profiles.

According to Variety, he is believed to have been born in the Iranian city of Masjid Solaiman in 1945 and his autobiography titled ‘The Terminal Man’ was published in 2004.

(Other than the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)