Dirk Bogarde
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Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954) for the Rank Organisation, he later acted in art house films, evolving from "heartthrob to icon of edginess".
Publicity portrait, 1964
Women survivors in Bergen-Belsen collecting their bread ration after their liberation, April 1945
A British Army bulldozer pushes bodies into a mass grave at Belsen. April 19, 1945
Bogarde with Jane Birkin, co-star in Daddy Nostalgie at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival
Matinée idol
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Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans. The term almost exclusively refers to adult male actors.
Wallace Reid is an example of a matinée idol. The original caption of this image from Picture-Play Magazine reads: "The only reason why they don’t let Wally play in dress-suit rôles all the time is that the casualties among the ladies would soon empty the picture houses. In fact, we feel that we’re toying with the fan hearts even to print this picture."
Photoplay named Richard Barthelmess the "idol of every girl in America" in the 1920s. An admirer wrote that "his wonderful black hair and soulful eyes are enough to make any young girl adore him" in 1921.
Rudolph Valentino is the epitome of a matinée idol.