Man who inspired film The Terminal dies; had moved back to Paris airport
- Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes at the airport. He had moved back into the airport in mid-September
- Nasseri lost the papers confirming his refugee status during a stopover in Paris Charles de Gaulle in 1988. He lived in the airport for 18 years
The Iranian refugee who inspired the Tom Hanks film The Terminal, by living in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport for 18 years after losing proof of his refugee status, is dead, according to an airport official.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri died of natural causes in the airport’s 2F terminal, an airport spokesperson confirmed. Nasseri, who took at one point to calling himself Sir Alfred, had moved back into the airport in mid-September after years of living in first a care home and then a hotel.
The Iranian national lost the papers confirming his refugee status during a stopover in the Paris airport in 1988. That meant he could neither travel on nor leave the airport, leading him to set up a life in Terminal 1.
He spent years appealing for the right to be accepted into another country before finally getting a French visa in 1999. However, he continued living, even after that, in the space he had set up for himself under an airport escalator.
He eventually left the airport in 2006 for a hospital visit and then moved into a home. Director Steven Spielberg turned his story into the 2004 film, which earned Nasseri enough money to move into a hotel.
Airport officials told Le Parisien newspaper that, since his return to the airport, he could often be seen with his possessions in an airport trolley. He barely spoke and would stare into the distance.