Sicilian Culture - The People: Rudolph Valentino (Rodolpho Alfonso Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglielmi Di Valentina D'Antonguolla)

Sicilian Culture

The People, The History, The Culture

Rudolph Valentino
(Rodolpho Alfonso Rafaello Pietro Filiberto Guglielmi Di Valentina D'Antonguolla)

May 6, 1895 - - - August 23, 1926

Born in Caltanissetta, Sicily, and arrived to the United States with little more than the clothes on his back. He was first a landscaper but then came to Hollywood to become the most famous of the silent screen. Rudolph Valentino put his fans into a massive and hysterical state of mourning when he died. He was probably the most famous of all the silent screnn actors and more than 100,000 paid tribute at his open coffin in the window of Campbell's Funeral Home in Manhattan, New York. Actress Pola Negri,sent 4,000 roses. Many suicide attempts were also reported.
Fan Contributions:
A Word About Valentino's Ghost: She likes to walk at sunset. She says that in the warm summer months a beach walk is just the thing to calm her down after a busy day with clients. It was on such a walk, not long ago, that she believes that she encountered the ghost of silent film star Rudolph Valentino. She saw a figure in a flowing robe, it was white and from what she could see it also wore a burnouse on its head. Her first thought was that it was a woman in some sort of cover-up. With swim suites growing smaller each year many cover-ups appear on the beach. It was getting cold as the figure approached and as it did she saw it wqas wearing boots and riding pants. It was there that she recognized it was a man--dressed as an Arab.
She felt that he was worried about something as he was looking at the incoming tide. The sun had slipped into the sea and as the light grew dim the image vanished. She believes that it wasn't a real person, and when she checked the place there were no footprints in the sand. It was weeks later that she discovered that this place, on the beach in Oxnard, California, was near the spot where Valentino filmed his classic movie "The Sheik". - - Contributed By "Phantom"
My grandmother went to Campbell Funeral Home in New York City to view his casket. She loved him so much! She would tell me how she cried and cried for months after his passing. My favorite Rudy flick is "Son of the Sheik". -- Catherine Laferrara
Rudolph Valentino Links

Tribute to Silent Film www.firey.com/silents

Valentino Message Board www.InsidetheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb587504

Rudolph Valentino Email List www.onelist.com/community/RudolphValentino

Rudolph Valentino Gallary silent-movies.com/Gents/PRudy.html

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