Who was Mehran Karimi Nasseri? Iranian man who inspired Spielberg’s ‘The Terminal’ dies at Paris Airport

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian man who resided in a small area of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years, passed away on November 12. He was 76.

As per an airport official, Nasseri died due to a heart attack around midday at the airport's Terminal 2F. A team comprising cops and medical staff tried to save him, but to no avail.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri resided in the airport's Terminal 1 from 1988 to 2006, initially due to a legal obligation due to a lack of residency documents and then later by apparent choice.

He used to sleep on a red plastic bench, befriended airport workers, used staff facilities, read magazines, and wrote in his journal. According to AFP, Nasseri became a highlight for the passengers, who called him Lord Alfred.

While speaking to the publication in 1999 and smoking a pipe, Mehran Karimi Nasseri said:

“Eventually, I will leave the airport. But I am still waiting for a passport or transit visa.”

---

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was the inspiration behind two films and an opera

Mehran Karimi Nasseri's story caught international media attention and that of famed director Steven Spielberg, who directed the 2004 film The Terminal based on Nasseri's life at the airport.

It also inspired a 1993 French film called Lost in Transit and an opera titled Flight.

His 2004 autobiography, The Terminal Man, co-written by British author Andrew Donkin, garnered positive feedback from several magazines and newspapers.

Iranian-Finnish documentary-maker Alexis Kourous also made a documentary about Nasseri, titled Waiting for Godot at De Gaulle in 2000.

According to the BBC, Nasseri was born in 1945 in Soleiman, Iran, to a Scottish mother and an Iranian father. He first flew to England in 1974 to study but was detained when he returned to the country for protesting against the Shah. He was expelled without a passport.

He was expelled from Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands before being offered political asylum in Belgium. However, at the time, he stated that his refugee certificate was stolen at a train station in Paris.

Nasseri was arrested by the French police, who couldn't deport him anywhere because of his missing immigration documents, which ultimately led him to make the Charles de Gaulle airport's 2F terminal his residence in August 1988.

Reportedly, after receiving his refugee papers and having a clear pass to leave the airport, he refused to sign because of his insecurity about doing so. Mehran Karimi Nasseri stayed at the airport for many years until 2006, when he was transferred to a hospital and later lived in a Parisian shelter.

A few weeks before his death, Nasseri again started living at the airport and was found with several thousand euros at the time of his demise.

As of writing, no information about his family has been revealed to the media.