Natacha Rambova (born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy; January 19, 1897 – June 5, 1966) was an American dancer, costume designer, art director and Egyptologist. Rising to prominence in the early 1920s, she became one of Hollywood's first women to exert significant creative control behind the camera, particularly through her collaborations with silent film actor Rudolph Valentino, whom she married in 1923.
A trained dancer, Rambova studied under Russian ballet choreographer Theodore Kosloff in New York and performed with his Imperial Russian Ballet. After following him to Los Angeles, she began designing costumes for the stage and for his film roles before moving into set design. She gained recognition for her work with Russian actress Alla Nazimova, contributing to the productions Billions (1920), Forbidden Fruit (1921), and Camille (1921), noted for their modernist and Art Deco aesthetics. As Valentino's wife and creative partner, Rambova played a central role in shaping his screen image, serving as costume designer, art director, and consultant on several of his films, including The Young Rajah (1922), Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), and A Sainted Devil (1924). Her emphasis on stylized design and historical authenticity marked a departure from conventional Hollywood aesthetics of the period and proved both influential and controversial.
Following her divorce from Valentino in 1926, Rambova attempted to establish a acting career and opened a boutique in New York. During the Great Depression, she relocated to Europe, where she married a Spanish nobleman. In her later years, she became an Egyptologist, collaborating with scholars and co-authoring works on ancient Egyptian history and mythology. 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.
Early life Rambova was born Winifred Kimball Shaughnessy on January 19, 1897, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father, Michael Shaughnessy, was an Irish Catholic from New York City who fought for the Union during the American Civil War and then worked in the mining industry. Her mother, Winifred Shaughnessy (née Kimball), was the granddaughter of Heber C. Kimball, a member of the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was raised in a prominent Salt Lake City family. At her father's wishes, Rambova was baptized a Catholic at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City in June 1897, though she later was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the urging of her mother at age eight.
Rambova's parents had a tumultuous relationship: her father was an alcoholic, and often sold her mother's possessions to pay off gambling debts. This led her mother to divorce Shaughnessy in 1900 and relocate with Rambova to San Francisco. There, she remarried to Edgar de Wolfe in 1907. She later married millionaire perfume mogul Richard Hudnut in 1920, and Rambova was adopted by him.
During her childhood, Rambova spent summer vacations at the Villa Trianon in Le Chesnay, France with Edgar's sister, the French designer Elsie de Wolfe. She was given the nickname "Wink" by her aunt Teresa to distinguish her from her mother because of their shared name.
A rebellious teenager, Rambova was sent by her mother to Leatherhead Court, a boarding school in Surrey, England. In her schooling, she became fascinated by Greek mythology, and also proved especially gifted at ballet. After seeing Anna Pavlova in a production of Swan Lake in Paris with her former step-aunt Elsie, Rambova decided she wanted to pursue a career as a ballerina. Life and career
Early dance career
Her family initially encouraged her to study ballet as a social grace rather than a profession. However, she demonstrated such exceptional talent that plans were made to take her to London and, under the management of Herbert Beerbohm Tree, place her with one of England's leading dance teachers. The outbreak of World War I disrupted these plans and prevented the journey in 1914.
Rambova made her public debut as a dancer in November 1914 at a benefit fête in Burlingame held in aid of Belgian war relief. In 1915, she continued performing throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and later that summer traveled to New York City, where she remained for an extended stay with her aunt Teresa.
The Imperial Russian Ballet In New York, Rambova studied under the Russian ballet dancer and choreographer Theodore Kosloff, who became her lover. Standing at , Rambova was too tall to be a classical ballerina, but she was soon offered a leading part in his act. Rambova's mother was outraged upon discovering the affair and attempted to separate her from Kosloff by withholding $2,637 owed for dance lessons and gowns, offering payment only if he ceased contact. She also tried to have him arrested and deported on statutory rape charges.
Fearing that her relationship with Kosloff was about to be severed, Rambova ran way from home on April 26, 1916, and fled to Canada before sailing to Bournemouth, England. There, she stayed with Kosloff's wife Maria "Alexandria" Baldina, under an assumed role as a governess for his daughter. Two days after she went missing, Kosloff sued Rambova's mother for the unpaid bill. Her mother hired private detectives and appealed to New York Senator James A. O'Gorman, California Senator James D. Phelan, and Russian ambassador George Bakhmeteff for assistance, prompting a nationwide search. She accused Kosloff of using hypnotism on her daughter. During Kosloff's performance at a local theater in June 1916, a bouquet of American Beauty roses was thrown onto the stage accompanied by a card bearing "Winifred de Wolfe" in her handwriting. Although its source could not be determined, her relatives took it as evidence that she was alive. Kosloff subsequently issued a statement expressing hope that she would deny the allegations against him, explaining that he had remained silent because he considered her "a saint" and believed that only her devotion to art could have compelled her to leave home.In July 1916, during a San Francisco engagement of Kosloff's Imperial Russian Ballet, Rambova's mother met with Kosloff and agreed to withdraw all charges, allow Rambova to continue dancing with the company, and provide financial support for costumes and sets in exchange for her daughter's return and a reconciliation. As part of their arrangement, her mother told the press that Rambova had been located in Australia and was fulfilling an engagement. In August 1916, Rambova returned to the United States and was reunited with her mother in San Francisco. Her mother followed her to Chicago and they met with the chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before Rambova rejoined Kosloff's company in Omaha. Shortly afterward, Kosloff suggested that she use the stage name Natacha Rambova. She also adopted a Russian persona, pretending to be a foreigner. The Los Angeles Graphics described her as a "fine example of the cultured Russian woman, as well as an artist of ability."
She eventually became disillusioned upon learning that Kosloff had affairs with Vera Fredowa and other women in the company during her absence. Like other female dancers in Kosloff's company, Rambova initially struggled to separate her devotion to dance from her relationship with him. Kosloff exercised considerable control over the women who worked with him, promising them professional success in exchange for their loyalty while relying on them to cook, design, and perform without pay. Rambova and Fredowa became the "nucleus of Kosloff's family," a close-knit group of women who worked and lived with him and even learned Russian. Fredowa later recalled that Kosloff was incapable of remaining faithful to one woman, describing him as the type of man who needed to be surrounded by a "harem." Although Rambova disapproved of the arrangement, her desire to establish herself as an artist outweighed her feelings of betrayal and disappointment.
Costume and set design
In 1917, Kosloff was hired by Cecil B. DeMille as a performer and costume designer for the film The Woman God Forgot, after which he and Rambova relocated from New York to Los Angeles. Rambova carried out much of the creative work as well as the historical research on Aztec culture for Kosloff, who claimed credit for these as his own. After the film's completion, DeMille offered Kosloff and his assistants further studio work, but they declined in order to continue touring on the Keith-Orpheum circuit.
In August 1917, Rambova and Fredowa performed at a benefit for the French wounded emergency fund at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. The next month, the Imperial Russian Ballet launched its second Los Angeles engagement. Rambova "won appreciative applause" for her American fantasy number by Victor Herbert in the opening bill. She also performed an Aztec dance with Kosloff. The tour was critically successful and concluded in New York in the spring of 1918.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian Revolution led to the confiscation of Kosloff's property in Moscow by the Bolshevik government, causing the collapse of the Imperial Russian Ballet. Although disheartened by his financial situation, Rambova was unwilling to return home and remained with the company. A final tour was planned for the 1918–19 season, during which auditions were held across the country for students to enroll in the Los Angeles dance school established by Kosloff, Rambova, and Fredowa at Trinity Auditorium. Maria Gambarelli of the New York Metropolitan Opera replaced Rambova as Kosloff's principal dance partner as Rambova increasingly concentrated on designing costumes and sets for new productions inspired by Tartar themes. The elaborate production was well received, with the press praising its "striking and spectacular" costumes and harmonious setting.
Rambova began to resent Kosloff for taking credit for the extensive research and design work she undertook to support his emerging film career. Although Kosloff was an avid painter, he showed little interest in costume or set design and routinely presented Rambova's completed sketches to DeMille as his own after approving them. Rambova designed Kosloff's costumes for his roles in Why Change Your Wife? (1920) and Something to Think About (1920). For the film Forbidden Fruit (1921), Rambova and Mitchell Leisen were assigned to create a fantasy sequence inspired by Cinderella. The sequence became one of the film's most visually striking elements. Leisen later credited Rambova with much of the work, recalling: "I did some of the clothes for the Cinderella Ball... Natasha [sic] Rambova did the others. One of hers was a black dress for the Fairy Godmother that had little electric lights all over the skirt." Despite Rambova's contribution, Photoplay credited the film's costume designs to Claire West, head of wardrobe at the Lasky Studio. DeMille credited Kosloff with creating the costumes for the fantasy sequence, further obscuring Rambova's role.