Valentino was born in Castellaneta, Apulia, Italy and named Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella.

Around 1914, restaurateur Joe Pani who owned Castles-by-the-Sea, the Colony, and the Woodmansten Inn was the first to hire Rudolph to dance the tango with Joan Sawyer for $50 per week.

Following the divorce, John de Saulles reportedly used his political connections to have Valentino arrested, along with a Mrs. Thyme, a known madam, on some unspecified vice charges.

Fearful of being called in as a witness in another sensational trial, Valentino left town and joined a traveling musical that led him to the West Coast.

[16] At one point after the United States entered World War I, both Kerry and Valentino tried to get into the Canadian Air Force to fly and fight in France.

It was a bit part as a "cabaret parasite" in the drama Eyes of Youth, starring Clara Kimball Young, that caught the attention of screenwriter June Mathis, who thought he would be perfect for her next movie.

[23] While traveling to Palm Springs, California, to film Stolen Moments, Valentino read the novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez.

[25] After quitting Metro, Valentino took up with Famous Players–Lasky, forerunner of the present-day Paramount Pictures, a studio known for films that were more commercially focused.

[25] Jesse L. Lasky intended to capitalize on the star power of Valentino, and cast him in a role that solidified his reputation as the "Latin lover".

His leading role in Moran of the Lady Letty was of a typical Douglas Fairbanks nature; however, to capitalize on Valentino's bankability, his character was given a Spanish name and ancestry.

Initially believing the film would be shot in Spain, Valentino was upset to learn that the studio planned on shooting on a Hollywood back lot.

[30] After finishing the film, Valentino married Rambova, which led to a bigamy trial, as he had been divorced from his first wife, Jean Acker, for less than a full year, as required by California law at the time.

[26] In September 1922, he refused to accept paychecks from Famous Players until the dispute was solved, although he owed them money he had spent to pay off Jean Acker.

Famous Players made their own public statements deeming him more trouble than he was worth (the divorce, bigamy trials, debts) and that he was temperamental, almost diva-like.

Ullman had previously worked with Mineralava Beauty Clay Company, and convinced them that Valentino would be perfect as a spokesman with his legions of female fans.

[35] Valentino returned to the United States in reply to an offer from Ritz-Carlton Pictures (working through Famous Players), which included $7,500 a week, creative control, and filming in New York.

[40] While Rambova worked designing costumes and rewriting the script for Falcon, Valentino was persuaded to film Cobra with Nita Naldi.

[45] During the filming of Monsieur Beaucaire, both Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks approached Valentino privately, due to his contract with Ritz-Carlton, about joining with United Artists.

[48] Valentino once told gossip columnist Louella Parsons that: He claimed that despite his success as a sex symbol, in his personal love life he never achieved happiness.

[64] They married on May 13, 1922, in Mexicali, Mexico, which resulted in Valentino's arrest for bigamy, since he had not been divorced for a full year, as required by California law at the time.

[66] Having to wait the year or face the possibility of being arrested again, Rambova and Valentino lived in separate apartments in New York City, each with their own roommates.

[68][70] Hollywood Babylon recounts a story that Valentino had given Novarro an art deco dildo as a gift, which was found stuffed in his throat at the time of his murder.

[68][69][70] There were also claims that he may have had relationships with both roommates Paul Ivano and Douglas Gerrad, as well as Norman Kerry, and openly gay French theatre director and poet Jacques Hébertot.

[78] Shortly before his death, Valentino was dating Ziegfeld Follies showgirl Marion Wilson Benda[79] while he was also involved in a relationship with actress Pola Negri.

Polish actress Pola Negri, claiming to be Valentino's fiancée, collapsed in hysterics while standing over the coffin,[83] and Campbell hired four actors to impersonate a Fascist Blackshirt honor guard, purportedly sent by Benito Mussolini.

Valentino's funeral mass in Manhattan was held on Monday, August 30 at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church, often called "The Actor's Chapel," as it is located on West 49th Street in the Broadway theater district, and has a long association with show-business figures.

[85] After Valentino's remains were taken by train from New York to California, a second funeral was held on the West Coast, at the Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

[102] In the 1971 film They Might Be Giants, Oliver Clark makes a cameo, as a nonverbal psychiatric patient nicknamed Mr. Small, who is under the delusion that he is Valentino and refuses to speak until recognized.

[108] Written by Vladislav Alex Kozlov, Ksenia Jarova, and Natalia Dar, the film stars Terry Moore, Isabella Rossellini, Franco Nero, Sherilyn Fenn, Jeff DuJardin, Paul Rodriguez, and Monte Markham.

[109] Shortly after his death, several songs in tribute to Valentino, including "There's a New Star in Heaven Tonight" and one by his first wife, Jean Acker, titled "We Will Meet at the End of the Trail", became bestsellers.