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Rudolph Valentino was born on May 6, 1895 in Castellaneta, a small backward
village in southern Italy. The family was middle class by local standards. Young
Rudolph’s ambition from an early age was to get out of Castellaneta. When his
father died in 1906, Rudolph and his brother were sent to study at the nearest town
Taranto. But this was not enough for Rudolph. After causing trouble in his school
and much pleading with his mother, eighteen year old Rudolph was finally given the
money his father had put way for his education and he set sail for the United
States.
He arrived in New York on December 23, 1913. He stayed with family friends in
the Italian Quarter and worked at menial jobs while he tried to improve his
English. After six months he got a job as an under-gardener on the estate of
Millionaire Cornelius Bliss. Here he studied the manners and tastes of the rich,
cultivating ambition for such a lifestyle himself. He neglected his work, however
and was soon fired.
A string of jobs followed. For a time he was homeless and at one point
contemplated suicide. A job as a busboy in an Italian restaurant changed his
fortunes, however. It was here that he was introduced to the world of Dance Halls
and Cabarets. An older waiter took Rudolph under his wing and taught him to dance.
He was soon working as a full-time dancer at the Restaurant. The tango became his
specialty. Before long he was supplementing his income by working as a gigolo. This
afforded him invaluable opportunity to study the desires and fantasies of women and
perfect the art of seduction.
Rudolph became the star attraction at Maxim’s – a high class dance club in New
York. He became involved in a year long passionate affair with a married woman that
ended in scandal when the woman shot her husband. Valentino decided to get away and
headed for San Francisco. From there he set his sights on Hollywood. His first role
was a bit part as a dancer in the film Alimony. Before long the dashing Italian had
caught the eye of movie star Mae Murray who insisted that he play the lead in her
next feature, The Big Little Person. Another leading role with Murray came in The
Delicious Little Devil. The love scenes were, however, too hot for Murray’s
director husband Bob Leonard and the association ended.
Valentino had, however, been given the boost he needed. To capitalise on his
pending stardom he decided to cultivate an image as a mysterious loner. The image
worked well and his next two films, A Society Sensation and All Night, were
successes. Valentino was now a rich young man, darting around Hollywood in fast
cars with beautiful women.
Valentino’s fortunes took a dive however and he was unsuccessful in some
important auditions. It was at this time that he received a very public snub from
Russian film star Alla Nazimova. One of Nazimova’s lesbian companions, Jean Acker
became involved with Valentino and the two were soon married. On the wedding night,
however, his lesbian wife refused to consummate the marriage.
In 1921 Valentinos’s star was again on the rise. He was cast in the coveted role
of Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. His graceful dance moves and
sexual allure lit the screen and cemented the Great Italian Lover as a star. This
image was enlarged upon with The Sheik.
Meanwhile Valentino and his estranged wife Jean Acker were divorced. He became
involved with a strong willed, ambitious woman by the name of Natacha Rambova. She
would act as an adviser and manipulator of Valentino for the rest of his life. She
would cause major interruptions on the sets of his movies. Despite this Rudolph
passionately loved her and the two were married on 13 May, 1922. However, Valentino
had not waited the prescribed period since his divorce and he was jailed for
bigamy. After testifying that the couple had not consummated the wedding the
charges were dropped.
The couple were remarried in 1923 and set off for a European honeymoon. Before
long, however, Natacha had stormed out on him, going to live with her mother. With
the marriage collapsing, Valentino threw himself into his work. 1925’s The Eagle
was perhaps his best film yet, putting him firmly at the top of the Hollywood
ladder. The Son of the Sheik was also a huge hit.
A single man again Rudolph set off on a lifestyle of wild partying. On 14
August, 1926 he attended an all-night party in his honour. The next morning he was
found writhing on the floor in agony. He was rushed to hospital and operated on for
acute appendicitis. However, complications set in, including poisoning of the wall
of the heart. Rudolph Valentino, the Great Italian Lover, died on 23 August, 1926.
He was just 31 years of age.
Source : Some of the information on
this page came from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU
Documentation License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Rudolph
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