Vintage Tribune: Chicago swooned over film star Rudolph Valentino

A movie still from 1924's "Sainted Devil" shows Rudolph Valentino. (Getty-AFP)

Rudolph Valentino talks with children in Chicago in 1926. (baiduhai historical photo)

Silent film star Rudolph Valentino's breakthrough role came in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" in 1921. (AP)

Rudolph Valentino tips his hat in Chicago circa 1926. The film star died that August at age 31. (Chicago American)

A scene from the box-office smash "The Sheik" shows Rudolph Valentino embracing Agnes Ayres. (Hulton Archive/Getty)

Rudolph Valentino passes through Chicago with his wife, Winifred Hudnut, on Nov. 19, 1924, on their way to California. Valentino's beard, grown on a trip to Europe, made the papers. (Chicago Herald and Examiner)

Rudolph Valentino appears in Chicago in an undated photo. (baiduhai historical photo)

Rudolph Valentino, with his arm around his 7-year-old nephew, Jean Guglielmi, holds an Irish wolfhound named Centaur Pendragon at Union Station in Chicago in February 1926. His brother Alberto Guglielmi is at left with his wife, Ada. (baiduhai historical photo)

Italian-American leading man and romantic idol Rudolph Valentino starred in "The Eagle" in 1925. (Hulton Archive/Getty)

Chicagoans from the Rudolph Valentino Memorial Association stand next to a wreath in the star's honor after his death in New York in 1926. (baiduhai historical photo)

A memorial for Rudolph Valentino was held at Chicago's Trianon Ballroom in Chicago on Aug. 30, 1926. The Tribune reported hundreds of people paid their respects at the same time the actor's funeral was held in New York. (baiduhai historical photo)

A memorial for Rudolph Valentino was held on Aug. 30, 1926, at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, where the star had often performed for adoring crowds. (baiduhai historical photo)