VALENTINO, RUDOLPH

born May 6, 1895, Castellaneta, Italy died Aug. 23, 1926, New York City byname of Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi Italian-born U.S. motion-picture actor who was idolized as the Great Lover of the 1920s. He immigrated to the United States in 1913 and worked for a time as a gardener, dishwasher, and later as a dancer in vaudeville. In 1918 Valentino went to Hollywood, where he played small parts in films until he was given the role of Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). He immediately became a star, his popularity being managed by skillful Hollywood press agents. His films, which were usually romantic dramas, included The Sheik (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), The Eagle (1925), and The Son of the Sheik (1926). Valentino's sudden death from a ruptured ulcer at age 31 caused worldwide hysteria, several suicides, and riots at his lying in state, which attracted a crowd that stretched for 11 blocks. Each year after his death a mysterious Woman in Black, sometimes several Women in Black, appeared at his tomb. Additional reading A biography is Alexander Walker, Rudolph Valentino (1976).