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.
A movie star is an actor who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and whose names are used to promote movies, for example in trailers and posters. The most prominent movie stars are known in the industry as bankable stars.
Poster advertising a 1916 film with Mary Pickford, one of the first movie stars
Two movie stars, Sophie Marceau and Zhang Ziyi, respectively from France and China, at the Cabourg Film Festival in June 2014.
Image: Salahzulfikar 1
Image: Suad Husni
