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 interlocutory divorce, he crossed the border into Mexico to marry his second wife, costume designer Natacha Rambova.
A judge had him arrested because California law required a year before a person could remarry.
The charges were dropped a few weeks later for lack of evidence.
Valentino and Rambova’s marriage ended in bitter divorce in 1925.
His death the next year at age 31 caused a mass hysteria and reportedly led to several suicides. In his will, Valentino bequeathed Rambova $1.
Scott McCabe
