Vintage original 6.5 x 8.5 in. single-weight glossy candid photograph of silent film actress JEAN ACKER.
Taken in 1937 (we believe), she is depicted in a candid shot wearing a fur coat and holding her small black dog. This photograph is from International News Photos and features a date stamp of DEC 25 1937, when it was received by the Examiner [newspaper] Reference Library. The original paper snipe that was attached to the bottom of the verso is not present. It is in fine+ condition with some light waviness along the bottom where the snipe was attached.
Provenance: The Examiner Reference Library.
*"Jean Acker (born Harriet Ackers; October 23, 1892 – August 16, 1978) was an American actress with a career dating from the silent film era through the 1950s. She was perhaps best known as the estranged wife of silent film star Rudolph Valentino.
She performed in vaudeville until she moved to California in 1919. After arriving in Hollywood, Acker became the protegee and lover of Alla Nazimova, an actress whose clout and contacts enabled Acker to negotiate a $200 per week contract with a movie studio. Acker appeared in numerous films during the 1910s and 1920s, but by the early 1930s, she began appearing in small, mostly uncredited film roles. She made her last on-screen appearance in the 1955 film How to Be Very, Very Popular, opposite Betty Grable.
After meeting and befriending the then-struggling actor Rudolph Valentino at a party, they entered a two-month courtship and married on November 6, 1919. Acker quickly had regrets and locked him out of their hotel bedroom on their wedding night. The marriage was reportedly never consummated.
After filing for divorce, Valentino did not wait the requisite period for it to be finalized before marrying his second wife, Natacha Rambova, in Mexico, and he was charged with bigamy when the couple returned to the United States.] Acker then sued Valentino for the legal right to call herself Mrs. Rudolph Valentino. Valentino remained angry with her for several years, but they mended their friendship before his death in 1926. Acker wrote a popular song about him soon after he died called "We Will Meet at the End of the Trail".
Acker had an affair with the actress Alla Nazimova. Nazimova included Acker in what was dubbed the "sewing circles," a group of actresses who were forced to conceal the fact that they were lesbian or bisexual, thus living secret lives. Another of her female lovers was Grace Darmond, with whom she was involved during her relationship with Valentino. In the 1977 film Valentino a character loosely based on Acker is played by Carol Kane. In the credits, the character is simply called Starlet.
Acker died of natural causes in 1978 at the age of 85, and is buried next to Carter at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California."
*(source: Wikipedia)
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