“An enchanted castle suspended high above the rest of the world,” silent movie star Pola Negri declared her fellow thespian’s mansion and grounds. ‘Falcon’s Lair’ was one of the first great homes on Benedict Drive in Beverley Hills, purchased for $175,000 in 1925 by Rudolf Valentino. He died in 23, August, the following year from peritonitis following an operation for appendicitis and a gastric ulcer in New York, where he was on a promotion tour.
