20th-century American film personality and fashion designer (1897–1966)
Natacha Rambova
Rambova in 1925
Born
Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy
(1897-01-19)January 19, 1897
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Died
June 5, 1966(1966-06-05) (aged 69)
Pasadena, California, U.S.
Other names
Winifred Hudnut
Winifred de Wolfe
Natacha Valentino
Natacha de Urzàiz
Occupations
Costume and set designer
dancer
actress
academic
Spouses
Rudolph Valentino
(m. 1923; div. 1925)
Álvaro de Urzáiz
(m. 1932; ann. 1957)
Relatives
Heber C. Kimball (great-grandfather)
Natacha Rambova (born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy; January 19, 1897 – June 5, 1966) was an American film costume designer, set designer, and occasional actress who was active in Hollywood in the 1920s. In her later life, she abandoned design to pursue other interests, specifically Egyptology, a subject on which she became a published scholar in the 1950s.
Rambova was born into a prominent family in Salt Lake City who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was raised in San Francisco and educated in England before beginning her career as a dancer, performing under Russian ballet choreographer Theodore Kosloff in New York City. She relocated to Los Angeles at age 19, where she became an established costume designer for Hollywood film productions. It was there she became acquainted with actor Rudolph Valentino, with whom she had a two-year marriage from 1923 to 1925. Rambova's association with Valentino afforded her a widespread celebrity typically afforded to actors.[1] Although they shared many interests such as art, poetry and spiritualism, his colleagues felt that she exercised too much control over his work and blamed her for several expensive career flops.
After divorcing Valentino in 1925, Rambova operated her own clothing store in Manhattan before moving to Europe and marrying the aristocrat Álvaro de Urzáiz in 1932. It was during this time that she visited Egypt and developed a fascination with the country that remained for the rest of her life. Rambova spent her later years studying Egyptology and earned two Mellon Grants to travel there and study Egyptian symbols and belief systems. She served as the editor of the first three volumes of Egyptian Religious Texts and Representations (1954–7) by Alexandre Piankoff, also contributing a chapter on symbology in the third volume. She died in 1966 in California of a heart attack while working on a manuscript examining patterns within the texts in the Pyramid of Unas.
Rambova has been noted by fashion and art historians for her unique costume designs that drew on and synthesized a variety of influences, as well as her dedication to historical accuracy in crafting them. Academics have also cited her interpretive contributions to the field of Egyptology as significant. In popular culture, Rambova has been depicted in several films and television series, figuring significantly in the Valentino biopics The Legend of Valentino (1975), in which she was portrayed by Yvette Mimieux, and Ken Russell's Valentino (1977) by Michelle Phillips. She was also featured in a fictionalized narrative in the network series American Horror Story: Hotel (2015), portrayed by Alexandra Daddario.
^Cook, Pam (August 2015). "Picturing Natacha Rambova: Design and Celebrity Performance in the 1920s". Screening the Past. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
NatachaRambova (born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy; January 19, 1897 – June 5, 1966) was an American film costume designer, set designer, and occasional...
met his second wife, NatachaRambova. That same year, Valentino's legal wife, Jean Acker, successfully sued for divorce. Rambova, Mathis, Ivano, and Valentino...
Horror Story: Hotel, portraying a fictionalized version of designer NatachaRambova. In 2016, Daddario had a supporting role in the Nicholas Sparks romantic...
her high school education. She was discovered by production designer NatachaRambova, who helped facilitate film auditions for her, and she began obtaining...
Jean Acker and NatachaRambova. Although she was involved in an affair with Acker, it is debatable as to whether her connection with Rambova ever developed...
remainder of the 1970s, including Ken Russell's Valentino (1977), playing NatachaRambova, and the thriller Bloodline (1979). She released her only solo album...
and memorabilia from his travels. Shortly after the purchase, he and NatachaRambova divorced. Valentino retained Falcon Lair, hosted parties, and kept...
starred in The Legend of Valentino (as Rudolph Valentino's second wife, NatachaRambova), and in the Canadian thriller Journey into Fear, a remake of a 1943...
Squad and The California Kid (both 1974). In 1977, she was cast as NatachaRambova in the Rudolph Valentino biopic Valentino, directed by Ken Russell...
requisite period for it to be finalized before marrying his second wife, NatachaRambova, in Mexico, and he was charged with bigamy when the couple returned...
Justin Jessica Lu Bronwyn Charles Melton Mr. Wu Alexandra Daddario NatachaRambova Henry G. Sanders Willie Mr. Royale Josh Braaten Douglas Pryor Alanna...
former lovers, actor Rudolph Valentino (Finn Wittrock) and his wife NatachaRambova (Alexandra Daddario)—and her current lover Donovan (Matt Bomer). Throughout...
In 1922, after he had retired from business, Hudnut's stepdaughter, NatachaRambova, married Rudolph Valentino, who had not completed his divorce from...
relationship with famed film actor Rudolph Valentino and his wife, NatachaRambova, as seen in episode seven. The following year, the YouTube show The...
aisles of theaters; the film grossed $1.5 million. His second wife, NatachaRambova, took increasing control of his career and image, although this meant...
Harry O. Hoyt, and starring Clive Brook and NatachaRambova in her only screen starring performance. Rambova was chiefly famous for being the wife of Rudolph...
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant Myotismon Digimon Adventure NatachaRambova American Horror Story: Hotel Nadia Petrova The Vampire Diaries Nadja...
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