On this day, May 20, in 1922, silent screen heartthrob Rudolph Valentino was arrested on a charge of bigamy, causing a scandal that rocked his career. Known as the “Great Lover,” Valentino’s 1921 marriage to his first wife, actress Jean Acker, was never consummated. She was a lesbian. After an provisional divorce, he crossed the border into Mexico to marry costume designer Natacha Rambova.
A judge had him arrested because California law required a year before a person could remarry.
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