Iranian man whose experience inspired Spielberg's "The Terminal" dies in Paris airport - CBS News

An Iranian antheral who lived for 18 years successful Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, and whose saga loosely inspired the Steven Spielberg movie "The Terminal," died Saturday successful the airdrome that helium agelong called home, officials said.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri died aft a bosom onslaught successful the airport's Terminal 2F astir midday, according an authoritative with the Paris airdrome authority. Police and a aesculapian squad treated him but were not capable to prevention him, the authoritative said. The authoritative was not authorized to beryllium publically named.

Nasseri lived successful the airport's Terminal 1 from 1988 until 2006, archetypal successful ineligible limbo due to the fact that helium lacked residency papers and aboriginal by evident choice.

Year successful and twelvemonth out, helium slept connected a reddish integrative bench, making friends with airdrome workers, showering successful unit facilities, penning successful his diary, speechmaking magazines and surveying passing travelers.

FILE -- An Aug. 5, 2004, photograph of Mehran Karimi Nasseri, primitively from Iran, successful Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport.  Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis/Getty Images

Staff nicknamed him Lord Alfred, and helium became a mini-celebrity among passengers.

"Eventually, I volition permission the airport," helium told The Associated Press successful 1999, smoking a tube connected his bench, looking frail with agelong bladed hair, sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. "But I americium inactive waiting for a passport oregon transit visa."

Nasseri was calved successful 1945 successful Soleiman, a portion of Iran past nether British jurisdiction, to an Iranian begetter and a British mother. He near Iran to survey successful England successful 1974. When helium returned, helium said, helium was imprisoned for protesting against the shah and expelled without a passport.

He applied for governmental asylum successful respective countries successful Europe. The UNHCR successful Belgium gave him exile credentials, but helium said his briefcase containing the exile certificate was stolen successful a Paris bid station.

French constabulary aboriginal arrested him, but couldn't deport him anyplace due to the fact that helium had nary authoritative documents. He ended up astatine Charles de Gaulle successful August 1988 and stayed.

Further bureaucratic bungling and progressively strict European migration laws kept him successful a ineligible no-man's onshore for years.

When helium yet received exile papers, helium described his surprise, and his insecurity, astir leaving the airport. He reportedly refused to motion them, and ended up staying determination respective much years until helium was hospitalized successful 2006, and aboriginal lived successful a Paris shelter.

Those who befriended him successful the airdrome said the years of surviving successful the windowless abstraction took a toll connected his intelligence state. The airdrome doc successful the 1990s disquieted astir his carnal and intelligence health, and described him arsenic "fossilized here." A summons cause person compared him to a captive incapable of "living connected the outside."

In the weeks earlier his death, Nasseri had been again surviving astatine Charles de Gaulle, the airdrome authoritative said.

Nasseri's mind-boggling communicative loosely inspired 2004's "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks, arsenic good arsenic a French film, "Lost successful Transit," and an opera called "Flight."

In "The Terminal," Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a antheral who arrives astatine JFK airdrome successful New York from the fictional Eastern European state of Krakozhia and discovers that an overnight governmental gyration has invalidated each his traveling papers. Viktor is dumped into the airport's planetary lounge and told helium indispensable enactment determination until his presumption is sorted out, which drags connected arsenic unrest successful Krakozhia continues.

No accusation was instantly disposable astir survivors.

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• Steven Spielberg
• Iran
• France