matinee idol
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even better, he has used his beauty not to become a matinee idol but to unsettle and surprise us, portraying characters whose handsomeness is very much the point but not the whole story.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
He’s a dashing, square-jawed, clean-shaven matinee idol with a luxurious head of long, curly black hair.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2025
Olivier, who was playing Archie Rice, was at the peak of his acting career and considered something of a matinee idol.
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2025
In that potboiler, a film he later disavowed as too tame, he was publicized as the first Black matinee idol for mainstream audiences.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023
And no amount of fasting or praying had ever dimmed that certain something in his eye—the something which makes the matinee idol.
From Fanny Herself by Ferber, Edna
