Emily W. Leider traces the extraordinary journey by which a nobody named Rodolfo Guglielmi became a somebody named Rudolph Valentino - a silver screen legend who forever changed America's idea of the leading man. Valentino wasn't just a star, he was a phenomenon, adored by women, despised by men. On-screen, he offered American women a dangerous sexuality unlike anything on offer from their husbands or lovers; in private, his first wife - a lesbian - refused to consummate their marriage. Gossip and rumour about his early life as a taxi-dancer haunted him, until his untimely death cut short a career that lasted only five years. This book now attempts to rehabilitate Valentino's reputation, both as a man and as an actor.