Marlene Dietrich

 

Photo of Gladys Cooper + Rex Harison + Audrey Hepburn + Wilfrid Hyde-WhitePhoto of Marlene DietrichPhoto of Marlene Dietrich + Emil Jannings

Biography

Marlene Dietrich

Photo of Marlene Dietrich
I am not a mythSex is much better with a woman, but then one can't live with a woman!

Born:

December 27, 1901

Born as:

Marie Magdalene Dietrich

Died:

May 6, 1992

In her youth she enjoyed music and attended concerts. She was adept at playing the violin and piano, hoping for a career in the concert halls, but a wrist injury ended that dream. Marlene decided to pursue an acting career and auditioned at the Deutsche Theaterschule, supporting herself by working in a glove factory.

Dietrich made her film debut with a brief role in 1923's Der Kleine Napoleon. After a series of tiny roles Marlene returned to the stage but she remained better known as a live performer, enjoying great success singing the songs of Mischa Spoliansky.

American film director Josef von Sternberg cast her in the leading female role of Der Blaue Engel / The Blue Angel, filmed in Berlin during 1929 and 1930, in both German and English versions. Even before the film was released, Dietrich was signed to a Paramount contract and in 1930 she went to Hollywood leaving her husband and child behind. In Hollywood von Sternberg worked very effectively with Dietrich to create the image of a glamorous femme fatale.

During World War 2 Joseph Goebbels offered to make her "The Queen" of German films if she made movies promoting Hitler, but she consistently refused. Marlene became a US citizen in 1939 and made extensive tours, often into combat zones, to entertain Allied troops. Dietrich recorded a number of anti-Nazi records in German for the OSS, including Lili Marleen.

Dietrich returned again to the vocal industry in the '50s with many live albums, preserving her wild cabaret act from various European capitals.

In the late '70s Marlene withdrew from public life, becoming a recluse in the sanctuary of her Paris apartment.

Academy awards:

Nominated Best Actress for: Morocco (1930)

Selected movies:

 

Photo of Marlene Dietrich + Charles Laughton

Trivia

Marlene told the press that her real name was: Maria Magdalena Dietrich von Losch. However, her father’s name was Dietrich and when he was killed, her mother remarried with Edouard von Losch. Source / More (Book)

Marlene was the first German actress to be Oscar-nominated.

She prided herself on the fact that she had slept with three men of the Kennedy clan - Joseph P. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and John F. Kennedy.

Dietrich never worked without a mirror on the set so she could constantly check her makeup and hair.

Marlene sucked lemon wedges between takes to keep her mouth muscles tight

Gary Grant: “If women want to wear men’s clothes, let them do men’s work” Source / More (Book)

Bibliography