Rudolph Valentino
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Inside the Cathedral Mausoleum
at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in the far southeast corner of the building, you'll find
the "temporary" crypt of legendary actor Rudolph Valentino. More than 80 years after
his sudden death, fans and admirers still bring flowers almost every day to place
on Valentino's crypt, which identifies him as "Rodolfo Gugliemi Valentino."
Born in Italy, Valentino arrived in the United States in 1913,
intending to seek his fortune in the land of opportunity. Instead, he lived in
shabby immigrant neighborhoods in New York City, and as his money ran out he alternated between living
in a succession of cheap apartments and living on the street. He worked a series of odd jobs
and was arrested several times on suspicion of petty theft and blackmail.
Eventually, Valentino found success as a dancer in nightclubs around Broadway,
then joined the cast of "The Merry Monarch," a musical review on a national tour.
For the next few years, Valentino played small parts in a
series of small films, making his screen debut in an uncredited role as a
dancer in "Alimony" (1917), for which he was paid $5 per day. Gradually,
he was given larger roles, usually playing villains, in films including
"Eyes of Youth" (1919), "Big Little Person" (1919), "Stolen Moments" (1920)
and "Passion's Playground" (1920).
Valentino's big break came in 1921, when scriptwriter
June Mathis and director Rex Ingram were preparing a production of "The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" for Metro Pictures Corp. Ingram and
Mathis, who was also chief of Metro's script department, both wanted
Valentino to play the lead in the film -- a grim, anti-war story of
cousins who end up fighting on opposite sides in World War I. Due in
no small part to Valentino's performance in a dramatic and romantic
tango scene, the film was a huge success, and Valentino became an
instant star. With his darkly smoldering good looks and dancer's
grace, coupled with his exotic background, Valentino became the symbol
of fantasy and passion for women across the country.
Valentino followed with equally passionate roles
in costume romances including "The Shiek" (1921), "Blood and Sand"
(1922), "The Young Rajah" (1922) and "Monsieur Beaucaire" (1924).
After completing work on "The Son of the Shiek" (1926),
Valentino went on a nationwide tour to promote the film. While in New
York City on Aug. 15, 1926, he complained of stomach pain and was taken
to Polyclinic Hospital. Exploratory surgery revealed an acute perforated
gastric ulcer. Although the perforation was repaired, Valentino contracted
a post-surgical infection, and died. He was 31. Almost immediately, rumors
begin to surface that Valentino has been poisoned, shot by a jilted lover,
or a jealous husband. At his funeral services in New York City, an estimated
crowd of 100,000 gathered outside the funeral home. When his body was
brought back to Hollywood, thousands of fans stood in railroad stations
across the country just to see the train as it sped past. In Los Angeles,
an estimated 80,000 mourners crowded in and around the cemetery grounds
when Valentino's casket was carried into the Cathedral Mausoleum. A small
airplane flew overhead, showering the funeral procession with thousands
of rose petals.
Actress Pola Negri, who said that she and Valentino had
been engaged, attended Valentino's funeral services in Los Angeles, flinging
her herself on his coffin and repeatedly fainting -- though most witnesses
said she did it as a stunt for the press.
The original plan was that Valentino's stay in the mausoleum
would be only temporary, until a more suitable memorial could be built
somewhere on the cemetery grounds. The memorial, designed by architect
Matlock Price, was to include several life-sized statues of Valentino
in his most-celebrated screen roles. Valentino's friend, June Mathis,
and her husband, cinematographer Silvano Balboni, owned two crypts in
the mausoleum, and they agreed to let one of them be used for Valentino's
body. Less than a year after Valentino's death, Mathis died of a heart
attack at the age of 35, and was also buried in the Cathedral Mausoleum,
next to Valentino.
A few years later, when all plans for a new Valentino
memorial had fallen through, Mathis' widower, Silvano Balboni, sold
Valentino's "temporary" crypt to the Valentino family, and the crypt
became Valentino's permanent home.
One of the greatest and most enduring Hollywood legends
concerns the mysterious "Lady in Black" who visits Valentino's crypt
each year on the anniversary of his death. The visits began on the first
anniversary when the woman, clad in black from head to toe, including
a heavy black veil, entered the mausoleum, left roses at Valentino's
crypt, and departed without saying a word. But who was the "Lady in
Black"? And what was her relationship with Valentino?
According to the most popular and enduring version of the
legend, Valentino was friends with a woman whose daughter, Ditra Flame,
was seriously ill in a hospital. Valentino went to visit the girl and
brought her a single red rose. "You're not going to die at all," Valentino
told her. "You are going to outlive me by many years. But one thing
for sure -- if I die before you do, you please come and stay by me because
I don't want to be alone, either. You come and talk to me."
Shortly after Valentino's visit, little Ditra got better.
When Valentino died a few years later, she remembered his request and
brought a bouquet of red roses to his crypt every year on the anniversary
of his death, but she never spoke about it, and never told anyone her story.
The press noticed her visits, and widely publicized the story of
the mysterious "Lady in Black."
In the early 1940s, a former Ziegfeld showgirl named
Marian Watson, who performed as Marian Brenda, began visiting Valentino's
crypt and claimed that she was the original "Lady in Black." According
to various reports, Valentino either proposed to her the night before
he was hospitalized in 1926, or she secretly married him in 1925 and
gave birth to at least one of his children. Other women began to come
forward and claim that they were the original "Lady in Black," and told
various stories about their relationships with Valentino.
Perhaps in response to all the "Lady in Black" pretenders,
Ditra Flame finally took off her black veil and told her story in 1947.
She continued to visit Valentino's crypt until 1954, when she became
one of many "Ladies in Black," and the annual memorial service had became
a gaudy and sensational spectacle. She resumed her annual visits in
1977, but wearing street clothing instead of the traditional mourning
outfit. Flame died in 1984 and her gravestone, in San Jacinto, CA,
identifies her as the "Lady in Black."
The second generally recognized "Lady in Black"
was Estrellita del Regil, a former Spanish actress who began visiting
Valentino's crypt in the early 1970s as a tribute to her late mother,
whom she felt was Valentino's unrequited love. She continued her
visits until 1993, when illness prevented her from making her annual
pilgrimage.
Taking the role as the third "Lady in Black" was Vicki
Callahan, who did not originally intend to carry on the tradition. She
was simply a great fan of the silent star, and wanted to pay her respects.
But when she was shown, dressed in black, on a television news broadcast
in 1995 placing roses at Valentino's crypt, and was identified as
"the third Lady in Black," Callahan accepted the job, and continues
to make her annual visits.
Valentino was born Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaele Pierre
Philibert Gugliemi di Valentina on May 6, 1895, in Castellaneta, Italy.
He died on Aug. 23 , 1926, in New York City, NY.
1895 - 1926
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