The concept of the ‘Latin lover’ is lost to most of us now. But one of the first movie stars, back in the silent days, was Rudolph Valentino. His death at the age of only 31 had his female fans convulsed with grief. His rival was another Latin heartthrob, Ramon Navarro. Both were sold by their studios as real ladies’ men (ironically both Valentino and Navarro were secretly gay).

A stereotype was born and over the years there was a steady parade of Latin lovers – handsome, seductive, cinnamon-skinned women-chasers from South America, the Caribbean, France, Spain and Italy: Don Ameche, Ricardo Montalban, Cesar Romero and all the way up to John Travolta and Antonio Banderas.

In the 1950s the type was exemplified by the Italian Rossano Brazzi. Virtually forgotten these days his most famous role was that of Emile in the film musical South Pacific. Brazzi is now remembered in a new biography Happy Man by Lynn Florkiewicz (Book Guild).

The Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific was a colossal success on Broadway and on London’s West End and it was inevitable that it would be adapted for the screen. The film was premiered in 1958 and was a huge critical and box office triumph (it won three Oscars). The gold-disc soundtrack (Brazzi’s voice was dubbed) remained on the charts for months.

‘He was more than a heartthrob, though Hollywood only ever saw him as that,’ writes Florkiewicz. ‘He was a man proud of his art and his nation.’ Before crossing over to Hollywood he was in countless Italian films and had been active in the Italian Resistance during World War Two.

Brazzi had three other big hits around the same time. Three Coins in a Fountain was a silly romcom set in Rome; The Barefoot Contessa saw Brazzi as the Italian aristocrat who tried to rescue gorgeous Ava Gardener; and in David Lean’s reworking of Brief Encounter, the glorious Summertime, Brazzi was the seductive Venetian who’s determined to show Katherine Hepburn a good time. In the 1960s Brazzi’s career waned but he appeared memorably in the opening sequence of 1969’s The Italian Job steering a red Ferrari round Alpine S-bends with devastating results.

As Brazzi’s career dipped another movie actor who was on the rise was Richard Burton. His early life was captured in the recent biopic Mr Burton starring Toby Jones and in a new book Behind the Scenes by Angela V John (Parthian). Burton (born Richard Jenkins) might have ended up down the mines or teaching but for his mentor Philip Burton who encouraged his protégé to use his good looks and warm chocolate voice for better things. So loyal was the young Richard that he changed his name to the starrier sounding Burton.

‘Philip’s training of Richard involved anglicising his voice,’ writes John. He (Philip) also encouraged Richard to roam the Welsh moors reciting Shakespeare as a way of teaching him to project his voice. Philip went on to be a successful BBC radio producer and wrote several books on the theatre. Richard became a legend.

While Burton was a riveting actor his film career was dogged by duds. Bewitched by money, fame and booze (and Elizabeth Taylor) Burton seemed to give up on serious acting. Many observers considered that he squandered his talent in a series of bad films that paid well.

Philip Burton went on to officially adopt Richard, gave him his name and perhaps was a little in love with him. The older man was a Svengali playing Henry Higgins to Richard’s Elizabeth Dolittle. In fact, Richard Burton’s last amateur role was in the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw.

The Cinderella story, of course, has long been an inspiration to filmmakers, from My Fair Lady to Pretty Woman. In 1943’s delightful screwball romcom Midnight (now on Blu-ray from Criterion) Claudette Colbert has lost her money in the casinos of Monte Carlo and fetches up in Paris with nothing but the ball gown she stands up in. She is inveigled into stealing the boy toy off a rich bitch whose loving millionaire husband is footing Claudette’s bills In a roundabout way of getting his wife back.

Will Claudette succumb to the high life or opt for the handsome but poor cab driver she really loves. This is a hugely stylish romp enlivened by a script that’s funny, racy and sounds astonishingly contemporary.

Happy Man by Lynn Florkiewicz (Book Guild £12.99) Behind the Scenes by Angela V John (Parthian £25) Midnight is released by Criterion Collections (£22.99)

Bluesky: @kenwilson84.bluesky.social