Rudolph Valentino is famous as the first male sex symbol of the silent movie era. He was almost invariably cast as the romantic lead in films set in exotic locations and, as a result, became the archetypical object of female desire, both in his lifetime and beyond. Yet the reality was somewhat different.

He was involved in several unhappy affairs and marriages and seemed fated never to find true happiness before his death at the age of 31. It was only later that rumors began to circulate about a mysterious lover who still mourned his passing.

It seems that there was a woman dressed in black who would appear at his graveside on every anniversary of his death; she would lay flowers on the grave and then disappear. Theories abounded as to her identity; she was Pola Negri, the Polish actress who was his last love - or perhaps Ditra Flamé, with whose family Valentino had boarded soon after his first arrival in the States.

The truth turned out to be less dramatic but more revealing of Valentino’s character. Many years after these rumors began, the mysterious woman revealed that she had been extremely ill as a little girl and Valentino had visited her. He told her that she would recover and live longer than himself. In gratitude, she had decided to keep his memory alive with her annual visits to his grave.

Rudolph Valentino made some unfortunate choices when choosing partners but, for one little girl, he was a benefactor and deserving of a lifetime’s devotion.