Rudolph Valentino – romantic idol
Rudolph Valentino was a famous Italian-American actor, one of the most popular stars of the 1920s. He became one of the great romantic idols of Hollywood’s silent movie era.
His full name is Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaelo Pierre Filibert di Valentina d’Antonguolla Guglielmi. Valentino was born on May 6, 1895, in Castellaneta, Italy. His father served as a cavalry officer in the Royal Italian Army, and worked as a veterinarian and mason.
Valentino received a diploma from the Royal Academy of Agriculture.
When he was 17 years old he left Italy for Paris. After the death of the father Valentino moved to New York. Valentino worked as a landscape gardener, a dishwasher and waiter in a restaurant, a taxi driver.
Later he began working as a nightclub dancer and tango partner at a number of dance halls and cabarets.
In 1914 Valentino was cast in his first film. His screen debut was in My Official Wife.
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