On August 23, 2026—precisely 100 years after Rudolph Valentino died—fans once more crowded into the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to attend the 99th annual Rudolph Valentino Memorial Service. In keeping with custom, the service started at 12:10 p.m., the time believed to be when Valentino died in New York back in 1926, and gathered together historians, performers, members of his family and long-time devotees for an afternoon that was not about the myths surrounding Valentino but rather focused on the man himself, his films and the impressive influence he still exerts on the public imagination.
By Allan R. Ellenberger
Hollywood Forever refers to the event as the oldest annual tradition in Hollywood, and the centennial celebration this year had special importance; the full mausoleum, set around by marble statues and the usual arrangement of deep red roses, was clear proof that Valentino's popularity has outlasted the silent film era.
The service began with a welcome delivered by Hollywood Forever's Chanell O'Farrill, who is a seasoned funeral director at Hollywood Forever. She has occupied leadership roles in both the Los Angeles County and the California funeral directors' associations and has previously been in charge of the Hollywood Funeral Home and the Hollywood Forever Crematory.
Tracy Ryan Terhune, who has for a long time acted as master of ceremonies and is one of the individuals most closely linked with keeping the memorial tradition alive, delivered the opening comments. As a historian of Valentino, a collector, and the author of Valentino Forever: The History of the Valentino Memorial Services, Terhune has played a part in ensuring that the ceremony remains a true memorial rather than just another kind of Hollywood nostalgia event.
The program made a smooth transition between spoken tributes, music and rare film footage, and an original trailer for Valentino's last film, The Son of the Sheik (1926), had Valentino appear once again before the audience on the occasion of the centenary of both his death and the film's release.
Allison Francis, a long-time employee of the Margaret Herrick Library, who has previously taken part in the earlier Valentino memorials, read from Day Dreams, the poetry collection published by Valentino in 1923. Since she has carried out similar readings at the past services, this practice has continued so that Valentino's own words may form part of his annual memorial.
Chanell O'Farrill / H4E
Tracy Ryan Terhune
Allison Francis with longtime friend, The Hollywoodland Revue's Allan Ellenberger
Singer and actress Katy Jane Harvey
Lyric soprano Amanda Hootman
Music played a particularly important role this year. Katy Jane Harvey, who is a singer and actress based in Los Angeles and has a wide range of credits in musical theatre such as Les Misérables, Rent, Avenue Q and The Little Mermaid, performed 'Candlelight' and then came back for 'He Loved, He Danced, He Tangoed' and 'If I Had a Man Like Valentino'. She has taken part in previous Valentino memorials and has therefore become a highly appreciated musical feature at the annual service.
A significant musical contribution was made by Amanda Hootman, an actress and lyric soprano who received her training at Britain's Guildford School of Acting and worked in London before moving to Los Angeles; she performed the songs "There's a New Star in Heaven Tonight", "Why Was He Taken Away" and "We Will Meet at the End of the Trail", all of which reflected the intense sorrow that followed Valentino's death.
A full house gathered inside Hollywood Forever’s Cathedral Mausoleum to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Rudolph Valentino’s death.
Rudolph Valentino's great niece, Sylvia Valentino Huber
A particularly personal moment was provided by Sylvia Valentino Huber, who gave a speech titled "The Family Remembers". Instead of treating Valentino merely as an icon frozen image on the silent screen, her contribution enabled the remembrance to be brought back to the family who actually have the famous name.
Sylvia’s grandson, Michael Flores appeared in a video showing him performing 'The Sheik of Araby' on the piano. As the great-great-great nephew of Valentino, the talented eighteen-year-old established another link between music and the popular culture that developed around Valentino's famous on-screen image.
Randy Haberkamp, a film historian, gave a talk on the topic of "Why Valentino Lives On" and was probably the most qualified of all the participants to address that question. He spent over twenty years with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, eventually taking charge of its Film Archive and the Margaret Herrick Library, and founded the Silent Society, an organization dedicated to showing and preserving silent cinema.
A significant historical lecture was given by Tracey Goessel, who presented a talk entitled "Valentino's Death Explained." Goessel is currently one of the foremost experts on silent films, having written the highly praised biography of Douglas Fairbanks titled The First King of Hollywood and being the founder of the non-profit Film Preservation Society, an organization that is concerned with locating, preserving and restoring silent films. The fact that she appeared was a pleasant addition of a scholarly viewpoint to a topic which has gathered a number of legends over the past century.
The program also featured showings of Going Home from 1926 and a Rudolph Valentino Centennial Tribute, thus linking the speakers and music of the afternoon with the time period in which Valentino actually lived.
Before the service came to an end with the 23rd Psalm, which was read by Karie Bible, Harvey and Hootman sang 'Ave Maria.' Bible has been the in-house tour guide at Hollywood Forever since 2002 and has therefore become a well-known figure within circles concerned with the history of film in Los Angeles. She has also carried on with the modern custom linked to Valentino's enigmatic 'Lady in Black'.
The 99th memorial finished up about 1.30 p.m., and the roses, the music, the films, and the large number of people in the mausoleum made the message clearer than any speech could: one hundred years after Rudolph Valentino died, people still go to Hollywood Forever on August 23 to pay their respects to him.
Next year the 100th Valentino Memorial Service will take place, representing an exceptional milestone in a Hollywood custom which started in 1927 and, in spite of the generations that have passed, has never let Valentino be forgotten.
Resident Lady in Black, Karie Bible
If you enjoyed my look back at the 99th Annual Rudolph Valentino Memorial Service, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please take a moment to comment, rate the post, and share it with fellow fans of Valentino, silent film, and Hollywood history. Your support helps keep these stories—and the memories behind them—alive.
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