View source for Gigolo

{{short description|Male escort or social companion}}
{{other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox occupation
| name               = Gigolo
| synonyms           = 
| pronounce          = 
| image              = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| official_names     = [[Escort agency|Male escort]], [[call girl|call boy]]
| type               = [[Male prostitution|Male prostitute]]
| activity_sector    = [[Sex industry]]
| competencies       = 
| formation          = 
| employment_field   = [[Sex worker]]
| related_occupation = [[Stripper]], [[Pornographic film actor|porn actor]], [[sugar dating]]
}}

A '''gigolo''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɪ|g|ə|l|oʊ|,_|ˈ|ʒ|ɪ|g|-}} {{respell|JIG|ə|loh|,_|ZHIG|-}}) is a [[Escort agency|male escort]], [[call girl|call boy]] or social companion who is supported by a person in a continuing relationship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gigolo|title=Definition of gigolo}} Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref>

The term ''gigolo'' usually implies a man who adopts a lifestyle consisting of a number of such relationships serially rather than having other means of support.<ref>Otterman, Sharon, {{cite web|url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/swiss-gigolo-sentenced-to-six-years/|title='Swiss Gigolo' Sentenced to Six Years|date=2009-03-09}}, The Lede, March 9, 2009, ''News'', [[The New York Times]], February 14, 2013.</ref><ref>Dahlkamp, Jürgen, Röbel, Sven, and Smoltczyk, Alexander, {{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/gigolo-trial-trial-to-begin-for-man-who-duped-germany-s-richest-woman-a-611715.html|title=''Gigolo Trial: Trial to Begin for Man Who Duped Germany's Richest Woman''|last1=Dahlkamp|first1=Jürgen|date=2009-03-06|newspaper=Spiegel Online|last2=Röbel|first2=Sven|last3=Smoltczyk|first3=Alexander}}, Spiegel Online International, accessed February 14, 2013.</ref>

The gigolo is expected to provide companionship, to serve as a consistent escort with good manners and social skills, and often to serve as a [[ballroom dancing|dancing partner]] as required by the woman in exchange for the support. Many gifts, such as expensive clothing and an automobile to drive, may be lavished upon him. The relationship may include sexual services as well, and he also can be referred to as a "kept man."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wordreference.com/definition/gigolo|title=A man who is kept by a woman}}, Word Reference, accessed February 14, 2013.</ref>

The word ''gigolo'' may be traced to a first usage in English as a [[neologism]] during the 1920s as a [[back-formation]] from ''gigolette'', a French word for a woman hired as a dancing partner. Both ''gigolo'' and ''gigolette'' were first recorded in French in the middle part of the 19th century, referring to dance club denizens in [[Montmartre]] paid to dance with, and sometimes have sex with, unaccompanied male visitors. In the latter part of the 19th century, particularly after the scandalous murder case known in Paris as the {{ill|Pranzini Affair|fr|Henri Pranzini}},<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maza |first=Sarah |date=September 2018 |title=The Courtesan and the Gigolo: The Murders in the Rue Montaigne and the Dark Side of Empire in Nineteenth-Century Paris . By Aaron Freundschuh.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017. Pp. viii+258. $24.95 (paper). |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/698789 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |language=en |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=707–708 |doi=10.1086/698789 |issn=0022-2801|url-access=subscription }}</ref> the term ''gigolo'' took on connotations of the exotic, foreign male whose company and affections could be purchased by well-to-do French women.<ref>Freundschuh, Aaron.  ''The Courtesan and the Gigolo:  The Murders in the Rue Montaigne and the Dark Side of Empire in Nineteenth-Century Paris'' (2017, Stanford University Press)</ref>

==In popular culture==
===Films===
* ''[[Gigolo (1926 film)|Gigolo]]'' (1926) – American silent romance drama film produced by [[Cecil B. DeMille]]
* ''[[Just a Gigolo (1931 film)|Just a Gigolo]]'' (1931) –  American romantic comedy directed by [[Jack Conway (filmmaker)|Jack Conway]], starring [[William Haines]], [[Irene Purcell]], [[C. Aubrey Smith]] and [[Ray Milland]]
* ''[[Evenings for Sale]]'' (1932) – American romantic comedy, starring [[Herbert Marshall]], [[Sari Maritza]], [[Charlie Ruggles]] and [[Mary Boland]]
* ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950) – American film noir co-written and directed by [[Billy Wilder]], starring [[William Holden]] and [[Gloria Swanson]]
* ''[[Female on the Beach]]'' (1955) – American crime-drama film directed by [[Joseph Pevney]], starring [[Joan Crawford]] and [[Jeff Chandler]]
* ''[[The Gigolo (1960 film)|The Gigolo]]'' (1960) – French romantic drama film written and directed by [[Jacques Deray]]. It is loosely based on the novel Le Gigolo written by [[Jacques Robert (writer)|Jacques Robert]].
* ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' (1961) – American romantic comedy starring [[Audrey Hepburn]] and [[George Peppard]]
* ''[[Just a Gigolo (1978 film)|Just a Gigolo]]'' (1978) – West German film directed by [[David Hemmings]] and starring [[David Bowie]]
* ''[[American Gigolo]]'' (1980) – American romantic crime film written and directed by [[Paul Schrader]], and starring [[Richard Gere]], [[Lauren Hutton]] & [[Hector Elizondo]]
* ''[[Galactic Gigolo]]'' (1987) – American science-fiction comedy film directed by [[Gorman Bechard]]
* ''[[Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo]]'' (1999) – American sex comedy film starring [[Rob Schneider]], followed by the 2005 sequel ''[[Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo]]''
* ''[[The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003 film)|The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone]]'' (2003) –  American television film remake of the 1961 film of the same name. Directed by [[Robert Allan Ackerman]], it stars [[Helen Mirren]] and [[Brian Dennehy]]
* ''[[The Gigolos]]'' (2005) – British comedy film directed by [[Richard Bracewell]], starring [[Sacha Tarter]], [[Ben Willbond]], and [[Susannah York]]
* ''[[A French Gigolo]]'' (2008) – French drama film directed by [[Josiane Balasko]] and starring [[Nathalie Baye]]. It was based on the novel "Cliente" by [[Josiane Balasko]]
* ''[[Spread (film)|Spread]]'' (2009) – American sex comedy film directed by [[David Mackenzie (director)|David Mackenzie]], starring [[Ashton Kutcher]] and [[Anne Heche]]. It was also released as ''L.A. Gigolo''
* ''[[Fading Gigolo]]'' (2013) – American comedy film directed, written by, and starring [[John Turturro]], co-starring [[Woody Allen]], [[Sharon Stone]] & [[Sofia Vergara]]
* ''[[The Gigolo (2015 film)|The Gigolo]]'' (Chinese: 鴨王) (2015) – Hong Kong erotic drama film directed and written by Au Cheuk-man and starring Dominic Ho and [[Candy Yuen]], followed by the 2016 sequel ''[[The Gigolo 2]]'' (Chinese: 鴨王2)
* ''[[Good Luck to You, Leo Grande]]'' (2022) – Directed by [[Sophie Hyde]] and written by [[Katy Brand]]. Stars [[Emma Thompson]] and [[Daryl McCormack]].

===Music===
* "I'm a Gigolo" – 1929 Broadway show tune by [[Cole Porter]], written for the revue ''[[Wake Up and Dream (musical)|Wake Up and Dream]]''
* "[[Just a Gigolo (song)|Just a Gigolo]]" – adapted by [[Irving Caesar]] in 1929 from the Austrian tango "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo"; paired as a medley with "[[I Ain't Got Nobody]]" by [[Louis Prima]] in 1956
* "[[The Gigolo (album)|The Gigolo]]" – 1966 album by jazz trumpeter [[Lee Morgan]]
* “Gigolo Aunt” – 1970 song by [[Syd Barrett]]
* "[[Christopher Cross (album)#Track listing|Minstrel Gigolo]]" – 1979 song by [[Christopher Cross]]
* "[[Gigolo (Mary Wells song)|Gigolo]]" – 1981 dance single by [[Mary Wells]]
* "Gigolo" – 1982 song by [[Meiko Nakahara]]
* "[[Gigolos Get Lonely Too]]"  – 1983 song by [[The Time (band)|The Time]]
* "[[Gigolo (The Damned song)|Gigolo]]" – 1987 single by [[The Damned (band)|The Damned]]
* "Gigolo" – 1991 song by [[Liz Phair]] later rerecorded as "Can't Get Out of What I'm Into"
* "American Gigolo" – 2001 song by [[Weezer]]
* "[[Gigolo (Nick Cannon song)|Gigolo]]" – 2003 song by [[Nick Cannon]] featuring [[R. Kelly]]   
* "[[Gigolo (Elena Paparizou song)|Gigolo]]" – 2006 song by Greek singer [[Helena Paparizou]]

* "[[Gigolo (Nicolae Guță song)|Gigolo]]" – 2008 song by [[Nicolae Guță]]

===TV series===
* ''[[Just a Gigolo (TV series)|Just a Gigolo]]'' (1993) – British sitcom starring [[Tony Slattery]]
* ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'', TV episode "Sex", (1995) – British sitcom starring [[Jennifer Saunders]] and [[Joanna Lumley]]
* ''[[Gigolos]]'' (2011 – 2016) – American [[reality television]] series about the lives of five male escorts in [[Las Vegas]]
* [[American Gigolo (TV series)|''American Gigolo'']] (2022) – Romance series starring [[Jon Bernthal]].

===Novels===
* ''[[Hold Back the Dawn]]'' (1940) by [[Ketti Frings]]
* ''The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' (1950) by [[Tennessee Williams]]
* ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' (1958) by [[Truman Capote]]
* ''Le Gigolo'' (1959) by [[Jacques Robert (writer)|Jacques Robert]]
* ''Cliente'' (2004) by [[Josiane Balasko]]

== See also ==
{{Portal|Human sexuality}} 
* [[Cicisbeo]]
* [[Escort agency]]
* [[Female sex tourism]]
* [[Male prostitution]]
* [[Male prostitution in the arts]]
* [[Prostitution]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite news|last=Chang|first=Juju|last2=Thompson|first2=Victoria|last3=Harold|first3=Kelly|date=February 16, 2012|title=Secrets of Gigolos: Why More Women Say They Are Willing to Pay for Sex|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Business/secrets-gigolos-women-pay-sex/story?id=15644065&singlePage=true|publisher=ABC News Internet Ventures|access-date=October 19, 2014}}
{{Interpersonal relationships footer}}

[[Category:1920s neologisms]]
[[Category:Escorts]]
[[Category:Male prostitution]]
[[Category:Sex industry]]
[[Category:Male prostitutes by type]]
[[Category:Gendered occupations]]