Rudolph Valentino:His Ghost and His Cursed Ring

Rudolph Valentino - the most popular star of the silent era movies.The man after whom we celebrate the Valentine day. He was born to a French mother and an Italian father in the year 1895 in Italy. When he immigrated to New York where he did his first job as a taxi dancer(person who danced with a different partners in a cafe for some money per dance) Valentino being good dancer began to perform at the New York society. Later he introduced the Argentine Tango to America when he performed it in his first film “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” in 1921.

Initial movies of Valentino were mostly b-rated movies.He fell in love with an actress Jean Acker, a lesbian, who married Valentino just to avoid scandals. There marriage was a short lived and they were shortly thereafter(The marriage lasted for just 6 hours-perhaps the shortest in Hollywood history).

After his divorce to Acker, Valentino married Natacha Rambova, an art director who cast him in the movie "Camille"(in year 1923).This marriage was also doomed.Reason being because each movie they starred in together flopped. In fact their collaboration made Valentino a box office poison for
a sometime.The papers at the time always blamed Rambova for these failures. Another contentious issue for the couple was Valentino desperately wanted children and Rambova didn't  The marriage finally was over when Rambova had an affair with her cameraman. Valentino despondent contemplated suicide. The two divorced in 1926.

After this Valentino had a pretty restless life, where he romanced many women,took risks that were absolutely not required. He got himself almost killed in car accidents, refused to see doctors when ill. While promoting his would be last movie “Son of Sheik”, he had to be transferred to hospital. He was operated there for bleeding Ulcers. The operation was a success, but he succumbed to the infections caused by the surgery.

Around 80000 women showed up to for viewing his body, almost causing a stampede. Several women committed suicide on the day of his funeral.At the time of his death Valentino was heavily debt ridden -3 million dollars to be precise-so there was no money to handle his estate or his burial. A friend, June Mathis owned several crypts in Hollywood Forever Cemetery so she offered  one to Valentino.Valentino's body still lies in this crypt .

Valentino’s ghost is often reported to be seen in places which he had visited when alive. Many have spotted his ghost at his Beverly Hills mansion, Falcon’s Lair. Reports of his ghost started coming soon after his death.A guest at the mansion saw doors open and close at night. Harry Carey , who bought the mantion, reported encountering Valentino’s ghost in his old bedroom and he saw the ghost petting an imaginary horse in the mansion’s stables. While alive,Valentino, had kept his most beloved horse in this stable. Actress Millicent Rodgers also reported sighting the Valentino ghost while staying at Falcon’s Lair.Some witnesses have seen what appears to be Valentino standing at a window staring at people below.

Valentino Place-a speakeasy that Valentino often visited,his beach house in Oxnard-he stayed while filming “The Sheik.”, are other places from were reports of his ghost have come.He has been seen pacing the veranda. Suite 210 at the Santa Maria Inn, is supposedly haunted by his ghost. Guests say they felt a weight on the bed and heard strange sounds. At the Paramount Studios he is seen walking through the front gate, and walking through walls.

One young actress reported a very unusual encounter while shooting a scene. She reported that she felt a person get into bed with her. She felt an amorous body press up against hers and she felt someone’s breath on her neck. When she turned she recognized Valentino and then supposedly fainted.

Apart from the ghost of Valentino, there is also this story of the silver cursed ring that Valentino bought. He seller has warned Valentino, that the ring was cursed, and its previous owners have had bad luck. He wore that ring during the shoot of "The Young Rajah", this movie was a big flop.A box office blunder- that let Valentino to stop acting for two years! Valentino did not wear the ring back until the promotion of his last movie " the son of sheik". He died within two weeks.

The ring was passed on to the actress Pola Negri who was dating Valentino at the time of his death.Her health faded, ,immediately ,almost ending her film career. She gave the ring to a singer named Russ Columbo. Columbo died in a shooting accident- an unsolved mystery to this day. Columbo’s cousin then passed the ring to Columbo’s friend, Joe Casino, who knew the history of the ring but he he did not pay heed to the caution and wore the ring and was run over by a truck. Recently, a young actor wore the ring while performing in a screen test for a film about Valentino’s life, ten days after the screen test he was reported, from a rare blood disease,dead at the age of 21 .