Biography for
Rudolph Valentino

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Date of Birth

6 May 1895, Castellaneta, Italy

Date of Death

23 August 1926, New York, New York, USA (perforated ulcer, blood poisoning)

Birth Name

Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla

Nickname

The Sheik
The Great Lover

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

His father Giovanni had been in a traveling circus before meeting his mother and settling down as a veterinarian. Though his father was a strict authoritarian, his mother doted on her "beautiful baby" even to the exclusion of his older brother Alberto and younger sister Maria. By the time he was eleven he was an undisciplined, pampered bully. He was expelled from many schools, finally obtaining a diploma in the Science of Farming from the Academy of Agriculture.

He went to Paris where he learned apache dancing, joined a gay crowd, returned broke, took his inheritance of $4000 and, December 1913, sailed for New York. He worked as a busboy, then gigolo, while pursuing dance, especially the tango. In 1917 went to Hollywood and obtained a small dancing part in Alimony (1917). When he did get acting roles they were villains not lovers. Script writer June Mathis and director Rex Ingram convinced Metro to do The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) and to cast Valentino in the lead. The first million dollar production saved Metro and made Rudy a star.

It also brought him to the attention of Alla Nazimova who wanted him to play opposite her in Camille (1921). Alla's friend, Natacha Rambova (nee Winifred Hudnut) became attached to Rudy and they eloped to Mexico 13 May, 1922 in the belief his divorce from Jean Acker was official. He was jailed as a bigamist and fined $10,000. After their re-marriage the following year she fled to Paris having never entered his new mansion, Falcon Lair. He took up her interest in séances and the occult. He began dating sexy Pola Negri partly to improve his image as a man. While touring to promote his last film, an editorial in the Chicago Tribune accused him of "effeminization of the American male". He defended his manhood by challenging the writer of the article to a boxing match (which never took place). He died shortly afterward. 80,000 mourners caused a near riot at his New York funeral. Another funeral followed in California.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan

Spouse

Natacha Rambova	(17 March 1923 - 19 January 1926) (divorced)
Jean Acker	(5 November 1919 - 4 March 1923) (divorced)

Trivia

Ranked #80 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

In 1923 he recorded two songs for Brunswick Records. You can hear his heavily accented voice to this day.

A portion of Irving Boulevard in Hollywood, California, was renamed Rudolph Valentino Street in 1978.

Considered to be the first male sex symbol of the cinema during the silent era.

Published a thin volume of sentimental poetry titled "Day Dreams" in 1923. The book sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

For many years on the anniversary of Valentino's death, a mysterious woman, dressed all in black, was seen laying a wreath of flowers on his grave. Her identity was never established.

Following his untimely death, a bogus, composite photograph of Valentino ascending up to heaven was released for sale, and was snatched up by his legion of fans.

After Valentino's death, his family announced that his body would lie in an open casket in order to be seen by his fans. However, the family was worried that grief-stricken fans might rush the casket and damage the body, so they had a sculptor fashion a lifelike wax dummy and that was the "body" exhibited in the casket. Valentino's real body was kept hidden in another room in the funeral home.

He was half French and half Italian

Pictured on one of ten 29¢ US commemorative postage stamps celebrating stars of the silent screen, issued 27 April 1994. Designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, this set of stamps also honored Clara Bow, Charles Chaplin, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Zasu Pitts, Harold Lloyd, Theda Bara, Buster Keaton, and the Keystone Kops.

Valentino and Jean Acker had one of the shortest celebrity marriages on record - six hours. After courting for just a few days, they impulsively married November 5 1919, but Jean locked him out of their hotel room later that night after a spat. They separated, and their divorce was finalized in 1922. Ironically, after their divorce, they became good friends.

At the time of his death, Valentino was severely in debt, and his heirs could not afford a burial plot for him. June Mathis, screenwriter of Rudy's hit films The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) and Blood and Sand (1922), graciously agreed to temporarily loan him a space in her family crypt at Hollywood Park Cemetery so he could be interred upon his body's arrival in Los Angeles following a coast-to-coast funeral train ride from New York. Valentino's body remains in that "borrowed" crypt, interestingly next to Mathis to this day.

A few months before Valentino's death, a Chicago newspaper columnist attacked his masculinity in print, referring to him as a "pink powder puff." A lawsuit was pending when Valentino was fatally stricken. One of his last questions to his doctor was, "Well, doctor, and do I now act like a 'pink powder puff'?" His doctor reportedly replied, "No, sir. You have been very brave. Braver than most."

At the height of his popularity, Valentino went on a brief sojurn in his native Italy to visit friends and family and, in general, to get a much-needed rest. When he returned to Hollywood, friends asked him if he'd been mobbed by fans while on vacation. Valentino said no, explaining that, "over there, I look like every other Italian fellow on the street."

He is responsible for bringing the Argentine Tango to America, first performing the famous dance in his film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and later in a successful American national dance tour with his wife, Natacha Rambova, who, like Valentine himself, was once a professional dancer.

He was voted the 32nd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Worked as a dishwasher, gigolo, and petty thief before starring in The Son of the Sheik (1926).

Is mentioned in the The Bangles hit song (written by Prince) "Manic Monday".

Had an Irish Wolfhound named "Centaur Pendragon" and a Great Dane named 'Kabar'.

Was paired with Nita Naldi in four movies: Blood and Sand (1922), A Sainted Devil (1924), The Hooded Falcon (1924) and Cobra (1925).

Uncle of sound engineer Jean G. Valentino.

In the 1930s, Sheik Condoms, named after his most famous role, were introduced and feature Valentino's silhouette on the packaging for years.

The new short film "DayDreams of Rudolph Valentino" (with Russian actor Vladislav Kozlov as Rudolph Valentino) was presented at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on August 23, 2006, marking the 80th anniversary of Rudolph Valentino's death.

Is mentioned in the The Bongos song "Apache Dancing": "We like to tango like Valentino".

Personal Quotes

To generalize on women is dangerous. To specialize in them is infinitely worse.

Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas upon which the women paint their dreams.

A man should control his life. Mine is controlling me.

Salary

The Son of the Sheik (1926)	$200,000+25% of the profits
The Eagle (1925)	$200,000+25% profits
Alimony (1917)	$5/day

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