Screen Legend.

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    • Subject Terms:
      FAIRBANKS, Douglas, 1883-1939; VALENTINO, Rudolph, 1895-1926
    • Abstract:
      This article presents comparative information on some motion picture actors. The most popular hero of American silent movies was Douglas Fairbanks Sr., athletic and gallant rescuer of helpless virgins, escape artist, swashbuckling do-gooder. Whether dueling, jumping from a balcony to a tree, or leaping from his horse through an open window, he bared those gleaming teeth with a self-reliance that seemed inspirational at the time, but today the effect is monotonous, and the movies completely lack tension. His personal competition was also European, Rudolph Valentino. Because Valentino's appeal was overwhelmingly erotic, the critics who dismissed him as an actor overlooked something.