Ditra Flame (born Ditra Helena Mefford; August 4, 1905 â February 23, 1984), also known by her legal adoptive name Princess Orvella Wilson, was an American musician, vaudeville dancer and religious figure. She gained international notoriety as the original "Lady in Black," a mysterious mourner who visited the crypt of silent film star Rudolph Valentino every year on the anniversary of his death for nearly three decades.
Born in California to Andrew W. Mefford and Sarah Ann Worthy, she was orphaned at a young age and later adopted by a Hollywood family, receiving the legal name Princess Orvella Wilson. As an adult, she adopted the stage name Ditra Flame (pronounced "flah-MAY") for her career as a concert violinist.
Flame claimed her devotion to Valentino began in 1919 when she was around 14 years old. While hospitalized with a severe, life-threatening illness, ValentinoâÂÂa close friend of her motherâÂÂreportedly visited her bedside. According to Flame, he gave her a red rose and told her she would recover. He allegedly requested that if he died first, she should visit his grave so he would not be "lonely," promising to do the same if she predeceased him. Following his sudden death at age 31 in 1926, Flame began an annual ritual of visiting his crypt at Hollywood Forever Cemetery dressed in a heavy black veil and carrying a single red rose.
Flame was a classically trained violinist. In the late 1920s and 1930s, she led an all-female musical ensemble known as "The Blondes, Brunettes, and Redheads". The group was a popular fixture on the Vaudeville circuit and in Hollywood, often specializing in Mexican and Spanish musical repertoires.
In 1947, Flame ended years of media speculation by revealing her identity. She served as the President of the Hollywood Rudolph Valentino Memorial Guild, an organization she claimed to have founded in 1926 to preserve the actor's legacy and organize formal tributes for his international fanbase.
In the mid-1950s, Flame moved away from the entertainment industry and her public persona as the "Lady in Black". She became a dedicated evangelist, spending approximately 20 years working with a Papago (Tohono O'odham) tribal rescue mission in Arizona and fundraising for the Rose of Sharon Mission.
Flame officially "retired" from her public role as the Lady in Black in 1954. She expressed frustration that the annual event had become a "circus" populated by "publicity hounds" and numerous copycat "Ladies in Black". Despite her public withdrawal, she continued to mourn Valentino privately and made a final recorded visit to the crypt in 1981.
She died of natural causes on February 23, 1984, in Ontario, California. Her home was reportedly found filled with Valentino memorabilia, including a locket and a rosary she claimed were personal gifts from the actor. In a final tribute to the legend she helped create, she was buried in a black dress with a single red flower at San Jacinto Valley Cemetery. Her headstone is inscribed with her adoptive name, her stage name, and the title "The Lady in Black".
Flame's ritual created a lasting Hollywood archetype and established the longest-running annual tribute in film history. The Rudolph Valentino Memorial Service continues every August 23 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where a designated "Lady in Black" typically appears to place a rose on the crypt in honor of Flame's original promise.
The mystery and folklore of the "Lady in Black" about Ditra Flame have been recurring themes in Hollywood media and music.