Can you name this swarthy silent-screen superstar?

Born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguella, but nicknamed simply "the Latin Lover," Rudolph Valentino was one of the silver screen’s earliest male heartthrobs and style icons. Italian but indelibly associated with the Latin tango, Valentino's suave exterior belied the rocky reality of his turbulent life. He lost both his sister and his father at a young age, was rejected by the naval academy as a teenager due to his scrawny build, and struggled to survive in Paris and New York after leaving home in 1912 in search of fame and fortune. Valentino's first big break was getting hired as a taxi dancer (essentially, a male escort) to dance with solo women at New York's Maxim's Restaurant-Cabaret in 1914. Valentino's major star turn was in the 1921 silent epic war film, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The film was a smash and is still the sixth-highest grossing silent film ever made. Valentino earned rave reviews and descriptions such as “the continental hero, the polished foreigner, the modern Don Juan." Valentino basked in the adoration of his new Latin Lover image, but was troubled that the appreciation was not universally felt. Male journalists, in particular, often expressed hostility toward Valentino's nontraditional representation of masculinity. Valentino died tragically and deep in debt at age 31 from perforated ulcers mimicking appendicitis, a condition now called “Valentino’s Syndrome” in his honor.

Asked by Susanna Henke · Last updated 5 years ago · 0 views · SOURCE