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

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

Everyone knows that his cultivated image of a wealthy playboy who wined and dined beautiful women like he was some kind of matinee idol is another one of his lies.

From Salon • May 10, 2024

Former matinee idol Brendan Fraser, with the lead actor win for his wrenching turn as a morbidly obese man in “The Whale,” reached the climax of a his own comeback story.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2023

"Now that I look more like a matinee idol, just how much more do you like me?" he bantered.

From Bloom of Cactus by Coleman, Ralph P. (Ralph Pallen)