Italian-born actor (1895–1926) who became the most legendary sex symbol of the silent era. His premature death from a perforated ulcer induced a wave of fan hysteria unmatched until the modern “paparazzi” age, including riots and suicide attempts by grief-stricken fans. In an era filled with baseball immortals, heroes from the First World War, and proliferators of the earliest popular motion pictures, Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) was in a class of his own. But, like many preeminent headliners—though by no accounts as afflicted by some of life’s more dubious attractions—Valentino was the victim of an untimely death. (The actor died at the age of thirty-one from the sudden onset of peritonitis.) This impressive and oversized item pictures Valentino as he appeared in his second-to-last film, The Eagle. The rare, late-in-life depiction of the actor in Cossack boasts an equally scarce example of the icon’s autograph. The potent signature and inscription at bottom right read, “To Mme. Bianca Locke Lampson avec mes meilleurs compliments, Rudolph Valentino.” A trio of horizontal creases affects the subject’s famously handsome countenance, and other age-induced surface faults are present in the form of mild soiling and silvering. The signature remains distinct, however, appearing well-contrasted and virtually flawless. Measuring to 15 x 18 dimensions and neatly housed within a 19.5 x 22.75 frame. It should be noted that expert restoration to the photo could very well yield one of the finest signed Valentino images extant! RRAuction. COA.
