Valentino, Rudolph (1895–1926)

Italian-born US film actor and dancer. He was the archetypal romantic lover of the Hollywood silent era. His screen debut was in 1919, but his first starring role was in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). His subsequent films include The Sheik (1921) and Blood and Sand (1922).

Valentino went to the USA in 1913 and worked as a gardener and a dancer in New York City before appearing as a dancer in a 1918 Hollywood film. He became the screen idol of his day, in such films as Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), The Eagle (1925), and Son of the Sheik (1926).

His premature death at the age of 31 led to a mass outpouring of grief among his fans.