Rudolph Valentino (May 6, 1895 - August
23, 1926) was an Italian actor.
He was born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piero Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antoguolla in
Castellaneta, Apulia, Italy to a solidly middle-class family (his father was a veterinarian),
in the same year as the invention of cinema.
He studied and qualified in Agricultural Science at Nervi in Genoa. He spent some time in
Paris, where he became a talented dancer, and then returned to Italy for a while. In 1913 he
left for America, following the advice of Domenico Savino, a friend of his and of tenor Tito
Schipa. He landed in New York where he worked for a while as a dancer and obtained a certain
local fame. It has been said that during this period he also was a gigolo and that he had
judicial troubles for prostitution-related matters.
He next joined an operetta company that soon disbanded in Utah; from there he reached San
Francisco, California, where he met the actor Norman Kerry, who convinced him to try a career
in cinema, still in the silent era. After a dozen films that made him quite famous, in 1919 he
was married for a few hours to Jean Acker (1893-1978), a part-Cherokee film starlet who was a
lesbian. The marriage was reportedly never consummated and they were divorced in 1922. He then
achieved full success in films in 1921 with The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. That same
year Valentino became a great star, with the release of The Sheik.
On May 13, 1922, in Mexicali, Mexico, Valentino married actress Natacha Rambova. This resulted
in him being jailed for bigamy, since his divorce from Acker was not yet final. They remarried
a year later.
In 1923 a dispute with Paramount Pictures resulted in an injunction which prohibited Valentino
from making films with other producers. He traveled to Europe and had a memorable visit to his
native town. Back in the United States, he was criticized by his fans for his newly cultivated
beard and was forced to shave.
After his separation from Rambova, Valentino had an affair with the actress Pola Negri.
Valentino's Irish Wolfhound was named Centaur Pendragon.
In 1926 he died in New York, New York as a result of septicemia a short time after surgery for
an acute perforated gastric ulcer. (There were unsubstantiated rumors that he had actually
died from aluminum poisoning after eating food prepared in aluminum cookware or that he had
been shot in the stomach by a jealous husband.) An estimated 100,000 people were said to have
taken part in his funeral. Hollywood legend relates the story that thousands of women lined
the streets, causing riots. Several of his fans were even said to have committed suicide. The
popular rumor that the funeral home displayed a wax effigy of Valentino rather than the body
to protect it from frenzied mourners is probably groundless.
He is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. His reputation still
stands as a legendary sex symbol of androgynous appeal. Rudolph Valentino has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 1994, he was honored with his image on a United States postage
stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.
For several years on the anniversary of his death, a mysterious woman in black was seen laying
flowers on his grave. Her identity has never been firmly established.
Filmography:
Alimony (1917)
A Society Sensation (1918)
All Night (1918)
The Married Virgin (or Frivolous Wives; 1918)
The Delicious Little Devil (1919)
The Big Little Person (1919)
A Rogue's Romance (1919)
The Homebreaker (1919)
Out of Luck (1919)
Virtuous Sinners (1919)
The Fog (1919)
Nobody Home (1919)
The Eyes of Youth (1919)
Stolen Moments (1920)
An Adventuress (1920)
The Cheater (1920)
Passion's Playground (1920)
Once to Every Woman (1920)
The Wonderful Chance (1920)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Uncharted Seas (1921)
The Conquering Power (1921)
Camille (1921)
The Sheik (1921)
Moran of the Lady Letty (1922)
Beyond the Rocks (1922)
Blood and Sand (1922)
The Young Rajah (1922)
Monsieur Beaucaire (1924)
A Sainted Devil (1924)
Cobra (1925)
The Eagle (1925)
The Son of the Sheik (1926)
Valentino was also supposed having acted, at the beginning of his career, in the following
films:
The Battle of the Sexes (1914)
My Official Wife (1914)
Seventeen (1916)
The Foolish Virgin (1916)
Other names by which he was known:
Rudolph DeValentino
M. De Valentina
M. Rodolfo De Valentina
M. Rodolpho De Valentina
R. De Valentina
Rodolfo di Valentina
Rudolpho De Valentina
Rudolpho di Valentina
Rudolpho Valentina
Rodolph Valentine
Rudolpho De Valentine
Rudolph Valentine
Rodolfo di Valentini
Rodolph Valentino
Rudi Valentino
Rudolfo Valentino
Rudolf Valentino
Rudolph Volantino
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wiki/Rudolph_Valentino
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