Valentino

Valentino stars Rudolf Nureyev, Michelle Phillips, Felicity Kendal, Leslie Caron and Carol Kane. This American film is a biography based on the life of Rudolph Valentino as portrayed in the book Valentino, an Intimate Exposé of the Sheik, co-written by Brad Steiger and Chaw Mank. The movie opens with a sequence of events circling around the recent passing of Rudolph Valentino (Nureyev). Fans come by the thousands to visit the funeral home while the significant women in Valentino's life have flashback memories of him. June Mathis (Kendal) is a young screenwriter and executive. Still affected with seeming unrequited love for the star, she reminisces about what he was like before he became famous working as a gigolo, taxi dancer and a dishwasher. Mathis cast Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the film that launched his career and brought him to superstar status. Alla Nazimova's (Caron) memories with Valentino are recounted next as she claims a personal relationship with him. Natacha Rambova (Phillips) lets reporters know that she knew Valentino could help her social climbing desires.