Darmond was reportedly a
lesbian, but she has also been referred to as bisexual. Although performing in a substantial number of films over roughly 13 years, she was known in Hollywood's inner circle as the lover of actress
Jean Acker, the first wife of actor
Rudolph Valentino. Darmond also socialized, as did many struggling movie actresses of that era, with actress
Alla Nazimova, who was allegedly a former
lesbian lover of Jean Acker, although it has never been verified that Nazimova and Darmond were linked romantically. Darmond and Acker attended parties at Nazimova's
Garden of Allah, an imposing house on
Sunset Boulevard named after a
Robert Smythe Hichens play in which Nazimova had appeared. Darmond and Jean Acker met in 1918, and the two allegedly became lovers shortly thereafter. Acker met relatively unknown actor Rudolph Valentino only a few months later at a party at Nazimova's home. She and Valentino began dating, but reportedly never had sexual relations. They married in 1919, but on their wedding night, Acker fled the house and ran to Darmond's home, allegedly stating that it was Darmond whom she loved. The marriage is alleged to have never been consummated, and Acker filed for a legal separation in 1921; she later filed charges of
bigamy against Valentino when he married designer
Natacha Rambova in Mexico before his divorce from Acker was finalized. Darmond and Acker lived at 1337 Orange Drive in Los Angeles when Acker was married to Valentino, including the divorce trial period. Darmond married Randolph P. Jennings, who worked in the oil industry, on January 22, 1928. The marriage ceremony was performed in Hollywood by a minister named James H. Lash, and witnessed by Lillian Willat (legal married name of actress
Billie Dove) and Robert Fairbanks (possibly Robert Payne Ullman, who was known professionally as Robert Fairbanks, brother of the actor Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman, aka
Douglas Fairbanks). The probable venue of the wedding was 7065 Hollywood Boulevard, which was the site of the Hollywood Congregational Church in the 1920s. Darmond evidently lied about her age to her fiancé, as well as the county clerk, as she would have been at least 29 at the time the marriage licence was issued. There is an issue about whether she was born November 20, 1893, or November 20, 1898, but she could not possibly have been born as late as 1901. She clearly continued this subterfuge with her husband throughout their marriage, as she is listed as his wife, Grace D. Jennings, 28, on the 1930 census, which also reveals that the couple resided at 712 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California, and that they had a butler named Chris W. Tandoc. The pair divorced in 1935. Darmond died at the age of 69 in her apartment at 7850 W. Sunset Blvd. (formerly the San Ramon Apartments; later known as The Villa Rosa) in Hollywood. At the time, she was being treated for lung pain at the
Motion Picture & Television Country Hospital in
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. ==Partial filmography==