![]() He felt underpaid and did not like the scripts he was being offered. In 1921, with his star still quite high, Valentino decided to break his contract with Famous-Players. Such a role made Valentino seem dangerous but palatable to his audience. Her work shows him that marriage and morality are desirable. She accomplishes this by taking care of him after he suffers a severe wound. In the film, his character, Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, is a wild man who becomes domesticated by a British girl parading as an Arab slave girl. Many critics saw the film as a rape fantasy designed to appeal to Valentino's female audience. After he signed a contract with the Famous-Players (later known as Paramount) film studio, Valentino played the title role in what is arguably his most important film, The Sheik (1921). Valentino continued to be cast in roles as a sexual being throughout 1921, in films such as Uncharted Seas, Camille, and The Conquering Power. Even considering that exaggerated gestures were standard in silent films, Valentino lacked subtlety." Love, hate, surprise, any emotion at all. Caryn James of The New York Times wrote, "When he wasn't dancing or dueling, he acted by posing in elaborate costumes and popping open his eyes to show emotion. Instead, his films offered hints of violent sexuality and miscegenation meant to tantalize viewers." Perhaps because his stardom was based on his sex appeal, many believed he had little to no acting ability. Traditional values of home and family seemed wildly inappropriate when Valentino held the screen. As silent film expert Richard Koszarski wrote in The New York Times, "Here was an openly sexual icon designed to feed the most hidden fantasies of the cinema's largely female audience. The reason for his success was simple: Valentino appealed to women by being one of the first sexually passionate film stars. He falls in love with a woman who is already married, and only redeems himself by dying as a hero in World War I. In the 1921 movie, Valentino's character is an artist and tango dancer who becomes the object of many women's desire. The role made Valentino an instant star, and saved Metro from near bankruptcy. June Mathis, a screen-writer and executive at Metro film studio, suggested casting Valentino as Julio Desnoyers, in a film version of the epic The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They were legally separated in 1921, and divorced soon after.ĭespite his failed marriage and minor film roles, Valentino's potential did not go unnoticed. Acker claimed that the marriage was never consummated and that she left him for a woman. However, the couple only spent one night together. Valentino married an actress, Jean Acker, in November 1919. By 1920, he had appeared in 17 films, including Alimony (1918), A Rogue's Romance (1919), and Passion's Playground (1920). After his arrival in 1917, he was only able to get small roles, often playing the dark villain. Valentino's first years in Hollywood were inauspicious. After appearing in the serial Patricia in 1916, Valentino decided to try his luck in Hollywood. Valentino was cast in his first film in 1914, making his screen debut in My Official Wife. It was suggested that he try to get into the movies. When the tour ended in San Francisco, Valentino was again destitute. Valentino began dancing in musical productions, eventually touring the country with a musical comedy troupe. He soon acquired professional dance partners, replacing Clifton Webb as Bonnie Glass's partner at one point. Valentino began working as a nightclub dancer and tango partner at a number of dance halls and cabarets. It was only when he began working in dance halls that Valentino's future seemed clearer. At one point, the police accused him of petty theft and blackmail. Some have speculated that Valentino also supported himself by illegal or immoral means, perhaps as a sexual predator. After he lost this job, Valentino worked alternately as a dishwasher and waiter in a restaurant. One of his first positions was working as a landscape gardener on the Long Island estate of Cornelius Bliss. He worked at odd jobs after the military turned him down because of his inadequate physique. By 1913, after the death of his father, Valentino moved to New York, passing through Ellis Island.
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