Characters in Romeo and Juliet he is given a direct connection to his brother. Although he has a very small role in Shakespeare's play, earlier versions of the story gave him no role or mention at all. In fact, they gave even Mercutio a very minor role. Shakespeare was the first English dramatist to use the name "Valentine" on stage, in his earlier plays, "Titus Andronicus" and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona". In "Titus", Valentine plays a minor role, but in "Two Gentlemen", he is one of the title characters. Incidentally, the Valentine of "Two Gentlemen" borrows heavily from Arthur Brooke's Romeus in "The Tragical
The Two Gentlemen of Verona included Rolf Schult as Valentine, Hannes Riesenberger as Proteus, Helga Siemers as Julia and Isolde Chlapek as Silvia. In 1964, the play was made into a TV movie in West Germany, again using the title "Zwei herren aus Verona". Screened on ZDF, it was directed by Hans Dieter Schwarze and starred Norbert Hansing as Valentine, Rolf Becker as Proteus, Katinka Hoffman as Julia and Heidelinde Weis as Silvia. Another West German TV movie, under the title "Die zwei herren aus Verona", was screened on Das Erste in 1966. Directed by Harald Benesch, it starred Jürgen Kloth as Valentine, Lothar Berg