How to Use matinee idol in a Sentence

matinee idol

noun
  • Handsome and suave, Bacharach was somewhat of a matinee idol.
    — Duane Byrge, Billboard, 9 Feb. 2023
  • Cooke, already a matinee idol on the church circuit, had designs on a pop career.
    — Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2022
  • With his matinee idol looks, Withers seems destined to follow the hero's journey on screen.
    — Neda Ulaby, NPR, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Val’s physicality and matinee idol looks only made the whole thing much funnier.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 2 Apr. 2025
  • Matty was a cartoon mascot for anxiety wrapped in the packaging of a matinee idol.
    — Thomas Lennon, Variety, 31 Oct. 2023
  • In the 1920s, actor George Valentin is a bona fide matinee idol with many adoring fans.
    — Travis Bean, Forbes, 23 Apr. 2022
  • Hammer, who has toned down his bulky, matinee idol build to reveal a tall and lanky frame, is almost too handsome to be a student of antiquity.
    — Tyler Coates, Esquire, 26 Jan. 2017
  • Nicholas Carrieré is a matinee idol vision of Will Shakespeare.
    — David Lyman, Cincinnati.com, 9 Sep. 2017
  • The compensation is dressing Brad Pitt like a ‘20s matinee idol.
    — Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times, 3 Jan. 2023
  • Cruz plays an artsy director who won’t play by anyone else’s rules and Banderas is a matinee idol who finds himself under her command.
    — The Editors, Town & Country, 8 June 2022
  • So for the film’s premiere the actress dressed as matinee idol in a vibrant and glamorous dress of reflective paillettes by Armani Privé.
    — Vogue, 27 May 2019
  • Matter—slim, dark-haired, attired in a dark blue zip-up sweater and matinee idol handsome—is a natural entertainer who savored every moment holding a mic.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Slender and handsome, G-Eazy is hip-hop’s matinee idol, a white rapper with an outsize ego and a skill set that occasionally matches it.
    — Jon Caramanica, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2017
  • Indeed, Sessa has the appeal of an actor from that earlier era, when performers made their names with presence, chops and attitude more than matinee idol looks.
    — Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Do not let the dashing green velvet suit, the yellow leather gloves, the silk cravat or the pencil-thin mustache, a tonsorial touch that suggests the matinee idols of yesteryear, fool you.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Oct. 2025
  • Meet Hollywood’s new quarterback, more matinee usher than matinee idol, a stolid bit of sturdy known as Matthew Stafford.
    — Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2021
  • But the film has no time for matinee idols or Hollywood heroism, casting them as highly competent cogs in a machine that prizes teamwork over individual valor.
    — Thomas Page, CNN Money, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Camp, king of the character actors, takes on the matinee idol James, while Marvel, always a tower of evident strength onstage, must find a way to dissolve as Mary.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Wearing a short-sleeve blue shirt with a camp collar, olive khakis and white Jack Purcell Converse sneakers, Skarsgård looks like a ’50s matinee idol.
    — Alex Bhattacharji, WSJ, 6 Sep. 2018
  • While doubling for the silent matinee idol William Desmond, stunt man Jean Perkins was killed while jumping from the top of a speeding train to grab a rope ladder dropped from a plane swooping in from above.
    — Thomas Doherty, HollywoodReporter, 14 June 2025
  • In this southwest Michigan kitchen, part of the main living area in Elizabeth and Chris Fisher's new home, polished stainless steel grabs attention like a matinee idol.
    — Sally Finder Weepie, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 May 2022
  • But Poitier, who refused to play such caricatures, emerged as a matinee idol, an Oscar-winning actor and one of the most potent and graceful screen presences of his time, paving the way for countless who followed him.
    — Jake Coyle, ajc, 7 Jan. 2022
  • However, Green's also developing as something of a solo matinee idol and relatable singer-songwriter who has sold nearly 20 million singles in a decade.
    — Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean, 8 Sep. 2025
  • The new section proved an immediate success, encouraging Fahmy, who took his festival post after six decades as one of Egyptian cinema’s leading matinee idols.
    — Ben Croll, Variety, 23 Nov. 2024
  • More than one observer has pinpointed the peculiar dynamic of matinee idol Russell speaking his brother’s lines about loneliness, alienation, and erotic obsession.
    — Nate Jones, Vulture, 24 June 2021
  • Starring matinee idols of yesterday and today, Tony Scott's intricate thriller Spy Game is a glimpse into federal bureaucracy and one man's attempt to cut through it and save his former protégé.
    — Terry Terrones, EW.com, 25 Aug. 2022
  • For the role of Hollywood matinee idol Ronnie Reed, the object of Frank's obsession, Gyllenhaal always wanted to ask her brother Jake to dust off his singing and dancing skills.
    — Sydney Bucksbaum, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Feb. 2026
  • The press conference represents the beginning of Mercury 7 as an unprecedented pop culture phenomenon, an irresistible hybrid of the American cowboy with the matinee idol.
    — Carol Motsinger, Cincinnati.com, 9 Apr. 2018
  • There’s Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay, of course, but also Joe and his girlfriend, Rosa; Sam and the secretly gay matinee idol Tracy; Sam and Rosa; and Joe and his sister, Sarah (a brother in the book).
    — Justin Davidson, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The first was Xavier Giannoli’s bloated 200-minute biopic The Rays and Shadows, which chronicled the dirty wartime dealings of press magnate Jean Luchaire (played by Jean Dujardin) and his matinee idol daughter, Corinne.
    — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 20 May 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'matinee idol.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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