Rudolph Valentino--First Male Movie Star

Rudolph Valentino may have been the first male movie “star.”  At least, he’s an appropriate figure to begin with as a representation of men and masculinity in popular American movies.  He was definitely an actor who guaranteed a film’s success, whatever its reviews. 

   He was also one of the first actors whose personal life was a matter of popular interest.  It often came “dangerously close to overwhelming his screen image as the world’s greatest lover.  His first marriage was reputedly not consummated because his wife left him on their wedding night from a female lover” (Trice and Holland 10).  His second marriage was to a “domineering acting coach who controlled his career and placed him in roles that lead to the so-called ‘pink powder puff ‘ scandal—a series of innuendos that Valentino’s heavy make-up carried over to his personal life” (Trice and Holland 10).  None of this affected his screen popularity.  When he died suddenly his funeral was one of the events of the century.