“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.
Rudolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piero Filberto Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguolla was born in Castellaneta, Italy on 6 May 1895. His veterinarian father died of malaria when Rudolf was 11 years old. His French mother raised him along with his older brother and younger sister. After failing his course at the Venice Military Academy he obtained diploma in the science of farming from the Academy of Agriculture but, failing to find employment, he emigrated to the United States. Processed at Ellis Island on 23 December 1913 aged 18, he quickly ran out of money in New York, where he supported himself variously as a gardener, a waiter and an exhibition dancer in and around the city.
He impulsively married Jean Acker in 1919. Unknown to he who was later to be named ‘The Great Lover,’ she was a lesbian, and kicked him out of the room on their wedding night. Their marriage was never consummated – not exactly a plus for the man who was within a few years to become also known as “The Latin Lover,” or one who, after his death, was to have a condom named after him – Sheiks.
By 1917 he had graduated to bit parts on the stage, traveling west and finally arriving in Los Angeles. Stardom came with Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), then as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassam in The Sheik and Blood and Sand in 1922. Next year, following the annulment to Jean Acker, he married Natacha Rambova who he divorced the same year he died.
Valentino spent a fortune on the Spanish-style house and grounds, recreating what appeared to be a set for one of his famed Arabian epics. A nine-foot-high wall to protect his privacy surrounded the original four-acre estate.
‘The grounds were carefully manicured and planted with Italian evergreens and flowering vines,’ writes Robin Langley Sommer in Hollywood: The Glamour Years 1919-1941 (1987). ‘A circular pool dotted with water lilies made a serene oasis before the main entrance, and a pennant emblazoned with a stylized V surmounted the tall central tower of the house.’ A two-story garage over which were servants’ quarters was added, along with stable for his blooded Arabian horses: Firefly, Yaqui, Ramadan and Haroun. A skilled horseman, Valentino enjoyed rides outside his property until the adoring fans become too much. Determined to enjoy his canters, he purchased the adjoining acreage, effectively doubling the size of Falcon Lair and enjoying the use of extended bridle paths.
Nearby neighbours included Gloria Swanson, in her 22-room Spanish-style hacienda on three acres at North Crescent Drive and Sunset Boulevard, and comedy star Buster Keaton, whose new Italian-style villa in Benedict Canyon ‘boasted beautiful terraces, fountains and sweeping staircases’ (Robin Langley Sommer). Following a service in New York, Valentino’s body was returned to California. His crypt is in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, formerly Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery
Heiress Doris Duke, who died there in 1993, later owned Falcon Lair. One of her neighbors was pretty little Sharon Tate at 10050 Cielo Drive.
The interior of the home was extensively renovated following Doris Duke’s death but the exterior wall, gates and garage remain much as they previously appeared. On the 30 April 2009 the property was offered for sale at an asking price of US$7.95-million.
In May 2010 the American Society will hold the Rudolf Valentino Film Festival in Los Angeles
