Novarro quietly went into retirement.įinally, in the late 60s, Novarro made the fatal error of hiring two drifters who occasionally prostituted themselves through an acquaintance of Novarro’s. Foreshadowing the coming Red Scare, the stars were dropped by the studio for attending the screening of red propaganda.
So naturally he and his cousin Dolores Del Rio (called the most beautiful woman in the world by LGBTQ star Marlene Dietrich) and other stars were invited to a screening of “Viva Mexico!” by Soviet LGBTQ director Sergei Eisenstein. Perhaps the fact that his boyfriend was in the press helped him navigate these dangerous waters.īorn in Mexico, Novarro’s family fled the Mexican Revolution for California. Novarro was gay but kept mum about it in the press. He soon became one of the biggest film stars in the 1920s, cast as the leading man in huge hits like “Ben Hur” and “Mata Hari” with LGBTQ legend Greta Garbo. When Valentino suddenly died at the height of his career, the studio selected Ramon Novarro to fill his shoes. When it comes to Valentino, we may never know the truth for sure. What looks like vanity, however, may just be the result of a higher quality of life and more stylish habits that have nothing to do with sexuality. To many American men at the time (and now), European men like Valentino look too well put together to not be LGBTQ. Although his second marriage had no such communication problems, rumors persisted.
But Valentino filed for divorce on the basis that she refused to sleep with him and even locked him out of the bedroom on his wedding night. It did not help matters that Valentino’s first wife, actress Jean Acker, was a lesbian. Read next | Ryan Murphy Heads Back to the Ballroom for Season 2 of “Pose” In response, Valentino released a photo of his very athletic physique and challenged the reporter to a boxing match. In 1926, the same year Valentino died, a reporter labelled him a “pink powder puff” and blamed him for the feminization of American men. (Men at the time sported pocket watches, not the smaller wristwatches.) Although very sensitive to criticism, he kept wearing the watch, and soon everyone else would too. He was endlessly ridiculed for wearing a wristwatch and gold bracelet – like a lady. Rudolph Valentino’s sexuality was relentlessly questioned by the media during his brief lifetime. Rudolph Valentino, Gilbert Roland, Cesar Romero, Ramon Novarro Rudolph Valentino: Feminizing the American Male?