In this meticulously researched book Leider examines how Valentino may have been destined to be a part of the movies because he was born in 1895 and he was an Italian immigrant who came to America at a time when 'honest' labor was difficult to secure because of American's irrational fears of foreigners. As the silver screen's first dark-skinned romantic hero, Valentino helped to redefine and broaden American masculine ideals, ultimately coming to represent a graceful masculinity that trumped the deeply ingrained status quo of how a man could look and act.Ī brilliant examination of the life and death of the smoldering star of the silent screen: Rudolph Valentino.
In tandem, Leider explores notions of the outsider in American culture as represented by Valentino's experience as an immigrant who became a celebrity. He was reviled in the press for being too feminine for a man yet he also brought to the screen the alluring, savage lover who embodied women's darker, forbidden sexual fantasies. Valentino's androgynous sexuality was a lightning rod for fiery and contradictory impulses that ran the gamut from swooning adoration to lashing resentment. Leider looks at the Great Lover' s life and legacy, and explores the events and issues that made him emblematic of the Jazz Age.
In this thoughtful retelling of Valentino' s short and tragic life–the first fully documented biography of the star–Emily W. From his early days as a taxi dancer in New York City to his near apotheosis as the ultimate Hollywood heartthrob, Rudolph Valentino (often to his distress) occupied a space squarely at the center of controversy. Tango pirate, gigolo, powder puff, Adonis–all have been used to describe the silent-film icon known as Rudolph Valentino. From the author of Becoming Mae West–an in-depth look at the Silver-Screen legend who forever changed America' s idea of the leading man.
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