Rudolph Valentino - Hollywood, CA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Rudolph Valentino was born in Castellaneta, near the heel of Italy’s ‘boot’ to Italian and French parents. His full name was Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (I hope he didn’t have to sign many checks during his life). After spending a little time in Paris, he departed for New York at the age of 18 in search of greener pastures.

Starting out busing tables and performing odd jobs, young Rodolfo found his niche dancing and eventually acting in stage productions. On the advice of a friend, he moved to Hollywood to try his hand at the nascent film industry and the rest, as they say, is history. His major film successes were ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,’ ‘The Sheik,’ ‘Blood and Sand’ and ‘The Son of the Sheik’ all made during the silent era.

It’s not uncommon for Hollywood types to have problems with their financing and personal lives, and Rudolph Valentino was no exception. He was married and divorced twice and often spent more than he made. He once said: “A man should control his life. Mine is controlling me.” His inability to deal with negative criticism even led him to challenge a Chicago newspaper reporter to a duel.

In the summer of 1926, Valentino collapsed in his New York City hotel room. After emergency surgery for gastric ulcers and appendicitis, he developed an infection and died about a week later. He was only 31. His boyish good looks and ‘Latin lover’ persona had made him a cultural icon, especially among his female fans. It was reported that 100,000 people gathered to show their respects at his funeral. Rodolfo Guglielmi Valentino is interred in the Cathedral mausoleum at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles.

In 1994, Rudolph Valentino was honored on a U.S. postage stamp. The stamp’s design featured a caricature of Valentino by the ‘Line King,’ Al Hirschfeld.
(Sources: biography.com, smithsonianmag.com.)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 05/06/1895 Date of death: 08/23/1926 Area of notoriety: Entertainment Marker Type: Tomb (above ground) Setting: Indoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 8:30 am - 6:00 pm Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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