 But Valentino was the greatest male romantic star of the silent era. Every movie he made was a smash hit. From The Four Horsemen to The Apocalypse to The Sheik and Son of the Sheik and The Eagle and all those great pictures. But he just came here. He ran into trouble in his hometown over in southern Italy. He was from a good family. But his dad died and left the family broke. His father had been a dentist.