Non the summer of 1926, New York was convulsed by collective hysteria for the funeral of a thirty-one year old Italian, Rodolfo Guglielmi. Almost one hundred thousand people poured into the streets to say a final farewell to their legend: but the man for whom dozens of fans fainted in the sun (while some, it is said, attempted suicide) for America he had always been only Rudolph Valentino. Or rather, Rudolph, certainly not the classic American hero, blond and muscular. With oblique glances, exotic magnetism and postures of languid machismo, that young Apulian had stunned the producers, outraged many men And enchanted every spectator. With women he perfected inimitable seduction techniques: thanks to them, he brought his career to its peak.
Rudolph Valentino, the legend of all time: from Puglia to New York
Born in the lower middle class of Castellaneta in 1895, after graduating in agriculture Rudolph explored the bohemian life of Paris: he went broke, but learned to tango and dress like a star. Once he returned to Italy, it was his mother, his first benefactor, who bought him a second class ticket to New York (once on board, Valentino however managed to get moved to the comfort of first class). From gardener to waiterthere were many jobs with which he had to support himself before making his debut at Maxim’s restaurant and cabaret as a “taxi dancer”, paid dancer for ladies. His charm placed him in the salons of high societybut his involvement in the divorce of a rich Chilean socialite brought him legal trouble: after testifying against the woman’s husband, he was arrested on specious charges.
The episode prompted him to leave for Hollywoodwhere he began to play heartless “Latin lovers” and menacing womanizers. It was then that the woman who changed his life entered the scene: June Mathisone of the most influential screenwriters of the silent era, saw him dance in a small part.
She would become Metro Pictures’ first female executive: when in 1921 he supervised The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypseone of the most profitable blockbusters of silent cinema, established him as the protagonist. Dancing the tango in one of the best-known scenes, he immediately became a star: Mathis thus transformed the Latin seducer into a romantic herocloser to post-war sensibilities. The was being born female gaze, the female point of view in cinemawith a hint of rebellion against the more conventional American masculinity that Rudolph also manifested in The Sheikh And Blood and sand.
Rudolph Valentino with Agnes Ayres in the film The Sheik (1921), which established him as a sex symbol.
The hidden ambiguities
To introduce the actor’s daring love life (which already reflected the “fluidity” of the time) we need to take a step back. Among the nonconformists of cinema, Russian actress Alla Nazimova (godmother of the future First Lady Nancy Reagan), was the host of his famous “Garden of Alla”: around this beautiful property, the nerve center of the Hollywood lesbian community, gravitated a powerful network of actresses and artists who found unthinkable freedom here. She was among the frequenters Jean Ackeryoung actress protégé of Nazimova.
Valentino met her in 1919: after love at first sight, he asked her to marry him. But on the evening of the ceremony Jean locked her husband out of the bridal suite: Valentino, humiliated, spent the night alone and that marriage failed still stands out among the shortest in history. That union was probably an attempt to conform to the expectations of the time, which imposed reassuring facades on actors to hide their ambiguities.
Rudolph Valentino with June Mathis, the woman who changed his life.
Between arguments and obsessions
For his film Camille (The Lady of the Camellias), in 1921 Nazimova chose Rudolph Valentino. On the set, he fell in love with the dancer, costume designer and set designer Natacha Rambova. Behind that exotic name was a cold and beautiful American, described by Nazimova as “the human iceberg”. When they decided to get married in 1922, the failure to formally finalize the divorce from Jean Acker caused a scandal: after the wedding celebrated in Mexico (with Nazimova as witness), Valentino was arrested on charges of bigamy.
They remarried in 1923, but their relationship was increasingly marked by almost obsessive attitudes: dependent on Rambova, she became his all-round stylist, demanding total artistic control over her husband. The press highlighted his manipulative tendencywhich led Rudolph into arguments with costume designers, directors and makeup artists. She persuaded him to demand higher wages and to reject scripts written by his mentor, June Mathis.
The costumes designed for him by Rambova sparked the irony of the media. The criticism increased. In 1926 the Chicago Tribune he denounced degenerate effeminate tendencies when a local placed a powder dispenser in the men’s bathroom. The journalist wrote: «Why didn’t anyone drown that Rudolph Guglielmo years ago?». Valentino wanted to challenge him in a boxing match. Perhaps it was just a publicity stunt.
After numerous arguments with Natacha, they divorced badly. When, hospitalized for an ulcer, Valentino died of peritonitisRambova was in Europe: she didn’t leave home for three days. Polish actress Pola Negri, who had had an affair with him, fainted on his coffin. June Mathis made the family vault available, offering it as a temporary solution: but when the following year June died suddenly of a heart attack, she was buried next to him. They still rest side by side today.