Hungarian-born Vilma Banky reigned as a top film star of the 1920s, playing opposite Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Colman until the advent of talkies ended her career.
Falling ill in her 80s, she became embittered that none of her friends visited her, and she decreed that no notice be made of her death.Only now has a spokesman revealed the actress died in a Los Angeles nursing home on March 18, 1991, at the age of about 90.
Word of Banky's death began appearing in publications this fall. Yet her passing went largely unnoticed until this week, when her attorney confirmed the death following an inquiry from The Associated Press.
Banky was ill at home for five years and for another five years at the St. John of God Convalescent Hospital, attorney Robert Vossler said Thursday.
"During all that time, not a single soul came to visit her. She was so upset that she wanted no notice and no service when she died," he said. "I followed her wishes."
In October, Classic Images, a newsletter for fans of old movies, mentioned she died in a Los Angeles nursing home in 1991. In November, two London newspapers, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, reported the death in back pages.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library, one of Hollywood's top biographical sources, was under the impression Banky was living in a fashionable section of Los Angeles.
Vossler said Banky's ashes were scattered at sea near where her husband's ashes had been sown. Banky was married to actor Rod La Rocque for 42 years.