Natacha Rambova met Rudolph Valentino on Nazimova’s ‘Uncharted Seas’ in 1921, and they both fell in love. Although Valentino was still married to American film actress Jean Acker, he moved in with Rambova within a year. After Valentino’s divorce was finalized, he married Rambova in Mexicali, Mexico.
In his collection of poetry, Daydreams, Valentino wrote many poems about Rambova. In terms of domestic life, they held different views. Rambova had no intention of becoming a housewife, while Valentino cherished Old World ideals of a woman being a housewife and mother.
Rambova and Valentino separated in 1925, and an acrimonious divorce ensued. In 1925, Ramova and Valentino separated, and they divorced after a tumultuous affair. Valentino died of peritonitis unexpectedly at the age of 31 on August 23, 1926. For three days, Rambowa reportedly stayed in her bedroom. While she did not attend his funeral, she wrote a telegram to Valentino’s business manager George Ullman asking that he be buried in her family crypt at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, but the request was denied.
The following photos capture the moments when Rambova left Valentino while boarding the famous Los Angeles Limited train as it departed from Union Station in August 1925. Even though they appear happy for the cameras, it was one of Valentino’s saddest moments as they went through an acrimonious divorce after Natacha filed for divorce in December 1925.
