El Hedi ben Salem

Salem was born El Hedi ben Salem m'Barek Mohammed Mustafa in a small village in Morocco, the child of a Berber family. At the age of 15, he married and eventually had five children. Salem, his wife and children lived near the Atlas Mountains. By the early 1970s, Salem had left his wife and children and moved to Europe.

He met director Rainer Werner Fassbinder at a gay bathhouse in Paris in early 1971 and the two began a relationship. He moved to Germany with Fassbinder and became a part of director's entourage. He would go on play several minor roles in Fassbinder's films. Fassbinder eventually cast Salem in the lead role in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), a film that explores racism in post-World War II Germany. In the film, Salem portrays a Moroccan immigrant living in Germany who begins a relationship with an older German woman whom he eventually marries. The film brought Fassbinder worldwide critical acclaim and the role of "Ali" became Salem's best known role.

While Salem and Fassbinder were living together in Germany, Salem brought his two sons to live with them. This arrangement did not last long as the children were unprepared for life in a different culture and Salem and Fassbinder were not up to the task of raising children. Both frequently drank and took drugs and left the children with others. One of Salem's sons returned to his mother in Morocco while the other went to different homes and finally, a reformatory. Salem and Fassbinder's relationship was reportedly tumultuous. They fought frequently due in part to Salem's short temper which turned violent when he drank. In 1974, Fassbinder broke off the relationship due to Salem's violence and drinking. After the breakup, Salem began drinking more heavily. Director Daniel Schmid, one of Fassbinder's close friends, later told Roger Ebert that shortly after the break up, Salem got drunk and "... went to a place in Berlin and stabbed three people." Salem then returned to Fassbinder and told him, "You don't have to be afraid anymore."

After the stabbings (none of which was fatal), Salem fled to France aided by Fassbinder and his friends. Schmid later recalled that Salem had to be "virtually smuggled out of Germany" and that Fassbinder cried the entire time they were driving Salem out of Berlin.

While in France, Salem was arrested and jailed. While in custody at a prison in Nîmes in 1977, Salem hanged himself. News of Salem's death was kept from Fassbinder for years. He did not learn of his former lover's death until shortly before his own death in 1982. Fassbinder dedicated his last film, Querelle (1982), to Salem.

In 2012, a documentary on Salem's life entitled My Name Is Not Ali, premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film was directed by German filmmaker Viola Shafik.