Overview

Renato Floris' meticulous translation of this 1978 biography of Rudolph Valentino from the original French makes it available to English-speaking audiences for the first time. Since its publication, the DeRecqueville biography has been widely sourced and cited in Valentino scholarship. Floris observed that DeRecqueville was less a traditional biographer than a ""witness."" She interviewed numerous individuals who knew Valentino in France, including Jacques Hébertot, René Clair, Yvonne Legeay, and Robert Florey. Their firsthand testimonies give this work its distinctive value. She also corresponded with Dr. Howard Meeker, the surgeon who operated on Valentino and attended him during his final illness. His personal letter is included in this volume. This full-color edition includes additional essays on André Daven, Robert Florey's The Magic Lantern, Valentino's ""Letter to Bruno,"" and an essay by Castellaneta historian Aurelio Miccoli, Rudolph Valentino and His Nobility.

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9798295741579

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Renato Floris (1946-2023) was an accomplished translator, editor, and independent publisher whose work played a central role in the modern preservation of Rudolph Valentino history. Fluent in multiple languages, he translated several cornerstone Valentino-era texts, including the serialized fan-magazine memoir ""My Private Diary"" into Italian; Baltasar Cue's 1927 Spanish biography ""El Verdadero Rudolph Valentino"" (which he brought into English as ""The True Rudolph Valentino""); and Jeanne De Recqueville's French study ""Rudolph Valentino.""Across two decades, Renato translated countless archival articles, legal documents, and rare period sources, making primary material accessible to English-language readers for the first time. As CEO of his publishing company, Viale Industria Pubblicazioni, he shepherded numerous Valentino-related works into print with his meticulous editorial force, design integrity and historical fidelity. His contribution to Valentino scholarship remains immeasurable.

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