(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

I don't quite understand how I knew, when I asked my mom about her favorite film, that she was going to pick Doctor Zhivago. But I guessed it immediately. She's never mentioned it as a favorite. Maybe it's because when she talks about Omar Sharif in that film, she gets this faraway look that you see when someone's reminiscing about a movie they've loved for a long time. Maybe someday we can watch it together, preferably in a theater. Here's what Mom replied when I asked her about her favorites.

"The first movies that popped into my mind were Great Expectations (1946), Citizen Kane, and Jane Eyre (1944). I must really be living in the past! I just thought they were great movies. But the sentimental me settled on Doctor Zhivago. That was a great epic, had fantastic panoramic scenes, great scenery, and was a wonderful love story. The music was very good and it didn't hurt that I had fallen in love with Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia and loved him in this too. In fact, I thought this was well cast and the acting was great!"

If my mom ever stumbles across this page, she will probably fuss at me for revealing one of her secret film-star crushes: Omar Sharif. She's never been a maniac fan as far as I can tell, but if you mention Dr. Zhivago or Lawrence of Arabia or a few other select movies, her eyes shine and she smiles wistfully and says quietly, "Ohhh, Omar Sharif." Makes me wonder if Sharif wasn't the Johnny Depp of his day, the guy who looked better as he grew older, who wasn't admired solely by teeny-boppers. Sharif's birthday is today; he's just about 10 years older than my mom (she probably doesn't want you to know about that, either).

I confess I've never seen Dr. Zhivago, from which the above still is taken. Someday when the Paramount or another local theater shows it, perhaps I'll give the 1965 classic a chance -- I suspect it's a film that has to be seen on a very large screen. In fact, I've seen few of Sharif's films. I didn't realize he had much of a film career past 1980, and was surprised when he won acclaim for his role in the 2003 film Monsieur Ibrahim. A quick peek at his filmography shows that he's worked steadily in film throughout the years, in a variety of films from Top Secret! (which I've seen) to Mountains of the Moon (which I haven't). I doubt my mom has seen him in any recent roles; I think she prefers to remember him in his thirties, as her exotic heartthrob.

The British Film Institute site has a section on director David Lean that includes some lovely stills from Dr. Zhivago, if you too cherish a secret Sharif crush. And maybe later this week I'll share my grandmother's secret film love.