Mehran Nasseri, who inspired ‘The Terminal,’ dies in Paris airport

The Iranian man who inspired the Steven Spielberg film “The Terminal” died in Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle airport after living there for almost two decades, French officials said.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, a political refugee, died after a heart attack in the airport’s Terminal 2F, Paris airport authority officials reported.

Police and a medical team treated Nasseri but were not able to save him, an airport spokesperson told Agence France-Presse news agency.

Nasseri died shortly before noon, the outlet reported. He was 77.

Nasseri, who the Guardian reported called himself “Sir Alfred,” got caught in an immigration trap in the late 80s – unable to enter France. Born in 1945, Nasseri, lived in the airport’s Terminal 1 from 1988 until 2006, first in legal limbo because he lacked residency papers then later by choice, USA TODAY archives show. 

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USA TODAY reported in 2004 that Nasseri showed up at the Paris airport in 1988 with a ticket to London but no identity papers; he said they had been stolen in a Paris subway. He flew to England, but authorities sent him back to de Gaulle, where he remained in legal limbo – living off food vouchers donated by sympathetic airport employees, snoozing on a bench near the Paris Bye Bye departure lounge and becoming the star of French documentary films until he received a French residency permit in 1999.