Homage to Donna Hill

A few days ago, the silent film community lost a friend. Her name was Donna Hill. Along with being a friend to film buffs and film historians, Donna was also a personal friend, someone my wife and I have known for decades.

Donna was an authority on the life and films of Rudolph Valentino, and the author of an exceptional book, Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol: His Life in Photographs. (amazon link) If you don't have this book in your collection, I recommend you get it today. It is a beautifully presented labor of love praised by the likes of Kevin Brownlow, Leonard Maltin, and Tracey Goessel. Kevin Brownlow stated, "Besides being superbly researched, Silent Idol is filled with outstanding photographs, given, the standard of reproduction they deserve. I recommend it wholeheartedly."

Donna first published Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol in 2010, and then revised and reissued it in 2019. Here is a link to something I wrote about the book back in June of 2019, around the time that Donna reissued the book. (I am proud to note that my wife, Christy Pascoe, designed the front and back covers of the new edition.)

Donna was the webmistress of Falcon Lair, the Rudolph Valentino Home Page at https://www.rudolph-valentino.com, as well as The Dorothy Gish Project at https://www.dorothy-gish.com. At the time of her passing, Donna was working on a book about Dorothy Gish. I hope something becomes of her work to date.

On top of all that, Donna was a member of the Daughters of Naldi, a group devoted to the silent film star Nita Naldi. It's worth noting that Valentino and Naldi appeared in three films together, Blood and Sand (1922), A Sainted Devil (1924), and Cobra (1925). For more, be sure and visit the group's website at https://nitanaldi.com/

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There have been many tributes, notes and remembrances of Donna on social media following her death. None failed to mention what a generous and supportive person she was to everyone she met in person - as well as to those she only knew on-line or through social media. (Not surprisingly, Donna eventually came to meet many of her online friends in person at Pordenone, Cinecon, the annual Valentino Memorial, or the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.) Donna was a "net-worker" in the best sense of the term. And she was a community builder. 

I sat with Donna or hung out with her at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival a number of times. Along with the picture above -- taken on the mezzanine at the Castro theater in San Francisco -- here is another snapshot of a get together with Donna and others, including author / film historians Mary Mallory and Jordan Young, as well as my wife and myself. This was taken during the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2022. (I can recall other times we ate together during a SFSFF break with the likes of Pamela Hutchinson, Camille Scaysbrook and others, but regrettably, I don't seem to have snapshots of those occasions.)

I have been thinking of Donna a lot the last few days. I am still in disbelief over her passing. My wife and I have known Donna since the late 1990s. One of my earliest memories of Donna is the time when my wife and I visited her in her San Francisco apartment in order to show her our small collection of vintage Valentino postcards. We began a conversation about silent movies, about other early film stars, and other shared interests. It was a conversation that lasted for years, even decades. I have sometimes thought of attending Pordenone in Italy, and how fun it would be to spend time there with Donna, who has gone a few times. But now, time has run out on hat opportunity.

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Not only has the silent film community lost a friend, so has the Louise Brooks Society. Donna had always been supportive of my efforts, with an encouraging word; introducing me to people "I had to meet"; including me on her pioneering silent film podcast "Stolen Moments" back in 2007; sharing rare material about Rudolph Valentino for my 2019 keynote address, "Through the Black Velvet Curtain: Louise Brooks and Rudolph Valentino," at the 92nd annual Valentino Memorial Service; and contributing to my kickstarter campaign for my 2023 book, The Street of Forgotten Me: From Story to Screen and Beyond. There was more, lots more. So much in fact that I and the Louise Brooks Society are forever indebted to this singular woman.

Donna was also a significant contributor to "Shhhhh! Silents in the Library," a two-month celebration of silent film at the San Francisco Public Library which I organized in 2011. I curated the main exhibit, which was titled, "Reading the Stars: The Silent Era". It was comprised of vintage books about film dating from the silent era, including a few books related to the then last living silent film star, Baby Peggy. Most of the books in the exhibit were loaned from my personal collection -- except for a remarkable case worth of Rudolph Valentino related books loaned by Donna Hill. It was a thrill for Donna and me and my wife (who helped with just about everything) when Diana Carey (aka Baby Peggy) came to see the exhibit. Here are a few snapshots, including Donna's contribution.

I will be forever grateful to Donna Hill for contributing to this exhibit, and for her many kindnesses over the years. Donna Hill, we love you. The silent film community, and indeed the world, is a lesser place without you.

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