He remains one of the greatest stars of the silver screen. But beyond that, he was a compelling actor, the very first male sex symbol and icon who was way ahead of his time.
Nearly a century after his premature death from a perforated ulcer at the age of 31, Rudolph Valentino remains one of Hollywood’s most famous personalities. Born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla, in Puglia, Italy, Valentino immigrated to the United States in 1913 and worked as a waiter and taxi dancer in New York. His meteoric rise is a story for the ages.
Valentino achieved stardom in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), an epic tale about an Argentinean family that fights on opposite sides during World War I. His role as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in The Sheik, also released in 1921, cemented his image and legacy as the “Latin lover.”
Defining the Silent Era of the movies, Valentino ascended to fame during the 1920s and embodied the revolution in social mores that took place in urban America at that time. Sex had been a taboo subject in the Victorian era; Valentino’s passionate, dark sensuality fascinated audiences and forever changed how generations of people, especially women, thought about sexuality and seduction.
Whereas women idolized him and some men emulated him, others actually regarded Valentino as a threat to “American manhood.” Citing his manicured looks, dancing skills, long eyelashes, and the androgynous outfits he wore on screen, Valentino’s masculinity was frequently questioned, and he was often blamed at that time for what some perceived as a “degeneration into effeminacy.” One thing's for sure: he was no Tom Mix or Willian S. Hart. He was the inimitable one: Valentino!
Part of a month long series spotlighting a different accomplished Italian American every day during Italian American Heritage Month.
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