Allan R. Ellenberger's meticulously researched The Valentino Mystique: The Death and Afterlife of the Silent Film Idol (McFarland & Company) describes in great detail the circumstances surrounding Rudolph Valentino's death in 1926. The star of the blockbusters The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Sheik was only 31 years old.
Allan — I've known him for quite some time — also discusses the aftermath of the film legend's death, including the riots, suicides, fights over the estate, and Pola Negri's myriad fainting spells. Negri, a top Paramount star in the mid-'20s, used to claim that only death prevented Valentino from marrying her.
Valentino is currently back in the public eye following the discovery of the 1922 melodrama Beyond the Rocks, in which he plays Gloria Swanson's love interest. Beyond the Rocks had its 21st-century premiere in Amsterdam, and is scheduled to be shown at the next Cannes Film Festival.
Author Ellenberger also wrote the biographies Ramon Novarro and Margaret O'Brien: A Career Chronicle and Biography, in addition to Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory.
Valentino is much underrated today. Peole should watch his movies before putting him down. He could be a very accomplished actor. Just look at him in The Four Horsemen or The Son of the Sheik. Two very different roles and he excels in both.
Oh, Valentino was so beautiful!!