Jean Acker

Jean Acker was born Harriet Ackers on October 23, 1892 in Trenton, New Jersey to Joseph and Margaret Ackers. The 1900 census indicates an 1891 birthdate, and other sources have suggested an 1893 birthdate. However, her burial plot says 1892. Her mother was Irish and her father part Cherokee. They divorced when she was young. Her father remarried to Eleanor Bruseren in 1906. They had two sons together, both named Joseph. Their first son died at 4 months old in 1907, and their second son was a stillbirth. Eleanor and Joseph divorced in 1912, and he married a third time to Virginia Erb. Her father managed the Casino Bowling Alley and The Ritz Restaurant, and later owned the Boston Shoe Store on Valley Street. He also managed several bowling alleys in the Philadelphia area. In 1906, the family moved to Lewistown. Growing up on a farm, Ackers became an expert horsewoman. She attended St. Mary's Seminary in Springfield, New Jersey for a time. In a 1913, Acker remarked, "On Sundays I answer to the name of Miss Jean Acker, and weekdays I'm just Billie." She claimed to have been born in St. Louis to Spanish parent. At the time, she was a little-known performer who had worked in vaudeville and stock-company theater before joining Sigmund Lubin's motion picture operation in Philadelphia and later moving on to the Independent Motion Picture Company (IMP) studio in New York. She performed in vaudeville until she moved to California in 1919. After arriving in Hollywood, Acker became the protégée 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-unknown Italian actor Rudolph Valentino at a party, they entered a two-month courtship and married at the home of film producer Maxwell Karger in Hollywood on November 5, 1919. Acker soon regretted the marriage and reportedly locked Valentino out of their hotel room on their wedding night. Following their separation on their wedding night, Valentino sought a reconciliation and wrote a letter to Acker urging her to return. The couple briefly reunited after meeting at a party the next month and spent one night together on December 5, but Acker left him again the next day. Asked why she could not live with her husband, Acker reportedly said, "He's impossible, he's dictatorial." Valentino continued to pursue Acker while she was on location in Lone Pine, California, filming The Roundup in 1920. Although she attempted to prevent his visit—while allowing her lover Grace Darmond to see her—Valentino wired ahead announcing his arrival. By the time he reached Lone Pine, however, Acker had already left. He confronted her at Darmond's Los Angeles apartment, where the two got into a heated argument, and Acker informed him that she intended to seek a Reno divorce. After Valentino secured leading roles in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Camille, Acker filed a maintenance suit in January 1921, alleging that Valentino had deserted her following his rise to success. At the time, Acker claimed she was ill with stomach ulcers, unable to work, and burdened with debts totaling $2,500. An agreement between their attorneys provided for temporary payments of $50, which Acker later alleged were not maintained. Valentino denied her allegations and filed a cross-complaint seeking a divorce on the grounds that Acker had deserted him. Acker testified that Valentino's fame had altered him, stating, "He deserted me. He was nothing when I married and when he arrived he lost interest in me." She said that she didn't want a divorce and that she was his soulmate. Valentino said that a financial settlement was the motive for her action. "Her telegrams and letters were filled with sweetness, but her words were bitter... Work has forced me to go my way, though I have always wished for her happiness." The court ultimately ruled in favor of Valentino on January 10, 1922, granting the divorce and denying Acker a decree and separate maintenance. However, Valentino agreed to cover her medical expenses and pay temporary alimony of $175 per month. Under U.S. law in 1919, American women who married non-citizens automatically lost their United States citizenship, and as a result, Acker forfeited her nationality upon marriage. She did not regain her American citizenship until 1922, after changes to the law under the Cable Act and three years after her divorce. In 1922, Valentino did not wait the requisite period for their divorce to be finalized before marrying his second wife, Natacha Rambova, in Mexico, and was charged with bigamy when the couple returned to the United States. In 1923, Acker sued Valentino for the legal right to call herself Mrs. Rudolph Valentino. Valentino was angry with her for several years, but they mended their friendship in 1926 after his second divorce. Following his death, Acker wrote a popular song about him called "We Will Meet at the End of the Trail". 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.

Russian actress Alla Nazimova included Acker in what was dubbed the Sewing Circle, a group of actresses forced to conceal the fact that they were lesbian or bisexual. Acker was involved with Canadian actress Grace Darmond during her relationship to Valentino. After her divorce from Valentino, Acker was engaged to Marquis Luis de Bezan y Sandoval of Spain. Then, she was in the news over her relationship with Rahmin Bey. In 1930, after she lost her fortune in the 1929 stock market crash, she sued William Delahanty, claiming that he agreed to pay her $18,400 per year if she gave up her film career. The married politician denied that he made such a promise but admitted that he spent thousands of dollars on Acker. Acker met Chloe Carter (June 21, 1903 – October 28, 1993), a former Ziegfeld Follies girl, who was the first wife of film composer Harry Ruby. Acker remained with Carter for the rest of her life. The couple owned an apartment building together in Beverly Hills.

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.