American actress Jean Acker was BOTD in 1892. Born Harriet Ackers in Trenton, New Jersey, her parents divorced when she was a child, and she was raised by her father and stepmother on a farm in Lewistown, Philadelphia. After completing her education, she performed in vaudeville, moving to Hollywood in 1919 to pursue an acting career. She became the protégée and lover of the actress Alla Nazimova, who helped her negotiate a contract with a film studio. While still with Nazimova, she started a relationship with fledgling actress Grace Darmond and had a whirlwind romance with film star Rudolph Valentino, marrying him only to lock him out of their hotel on their wedding night. Valentino married Natacha Rambova before his divorce from Acker was finalised, and was charged with bigamy. Acker subsequently sued Valentino for the legal right to call herself “Mrs. Rudolph Valentino”. They remained estranged for several years, though reconciled before Valentino’s death in 1926. Post-divorce, Acker had high-profile relationships with Spanish Marquis Luis de Bezan y Sandoval and vaudeville hypnotist Rahmin Bey. After losing her fortune in the 1929 stock market crash, she sued her lover, the married politician William Delahanty, claiming that he agreed to pay her $18,400 per year if she gave up her film career. Acker settled into a stable relationship with Ziegfeld Follies dancer Chloe Carter, living together in Beverly Hills for the rest of her life. She died in 1978, aged 85.