Born Marie Magdalene Dietrich or
Maria Magdalena Dietrich in Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany to Louis Erich Otto Dietrich and
Wilhelmina Elisabeth Josephine Felsing, she was after her adoption by her father-in-law named
Maria Magdalena von Losch. She changed her first name to Marlene when she was 11. Marlene
played the violin before joining Max Reinhardt's acting school in 1921, making her official
film debut two years later (although historians insist that Dietrich actually appeared as an
extra in a 1919 German film).
After acting in only German movies at first (while also dancing as a chorus girl in cabarets
and in stage plays), she got her first role in the first European talking picture, The Blue
Angel (1930), directed by Josef von Sternberg.
Hollywood:
She then moved to Hollywood to make Morocco, for which she received her only Oscar nomination.
Her most lasting contribution to film history was as the star in several films directed by von
Sternberg in the pre-Code early 1930s, such as The Scarlet Empress and Shanghai Express, in
which she played "femmes fatales". She gradually broadened her repertoire in Destry Rides
Again, The Spoilers, A Foreign Affair, Witness for the Prosecution, Touch of Evil and Judgment
at Nuremberg.
The singer:
Dietrich sang in several of her films (most famously in von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, in
which she sings "Falling In Love Again"("Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt"),
having made records in Germany in the 1920s. Following a slowdown in her film career, she made
a number of records first for Decca, Elektrola, EMI, and for Columbia. Her distinctive voice
was later satirized, along with that of Lotte Lenya, in the song Lieder by cult British trio
Fascinating Aïda. Madeline Kahn did the same in the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles.
World War II:
In 1937, while her film career stalled, Dietrich became an American citizen. In 1941 the U.S.
entered the Second World War and Dietrich became one of the first celebrities to raise war
bonds. She entertained troops on the front lines in a USO revue that included future TV
pioneer Danny Thomas as her opening act. Dietrich was known to have strong political
convictions and the mind to speak them. Like many Weimar era German entertainers, she was a
staunch anti-Nazi who despised anti-Semitic policies of National Socialism.
Her singing helped on the homefront of the U.S.A too, as she recorded a number of anti-Nazi
records in German for the OSS, including Lili Marleen, a curious example of a song
transcending the hatreds of war. She also played the musical saw to entertain troops. She sang
for the Allied troops on the front lines in Algiers, France and into Germany with Generals
James M. Gavin and George S. Patton. When asked why she had done this, in spite of the obvious
danger of being within a few kilometers of German lines, she famously replied
"aus Anstand" - "it was the decent thing to do".
Personal life:
Unlike her professional celebrity, which was carefully crafted and maintained, Dietrich's
personal life was kept out of public view. She married once, to director's assistant Rudolf
Sieber, a Roman Catholic who later became a director at Paramount Pictures in France.
Her only child, Maria Elizabeth Sieber (married name Maria Riva), was born on December 13,
1924. When Maria Riva gave birth to a son in 1948, Dietrich was dubbed "the world's most
glamorous grandmother". The great love of the actress's life, however, was the French actor
and military hero Jean Gabin. As for her husband, he had a tragically unstable longterm
mistress who looked a bit like and eventually believed herself to be Dietrich.
Despite all of this, she was reportedly offered a king's ransom to return to Germany, due to
her immense popularity as well as Hitler's ardour, which she declined. It is true that she
quipped that she would return only when one of her Jewish friends (possibly Max Reinhardt)
could accompany her.
Her return to Germany in 1960 was met with protests, (including a pelting with tomatoes and
eggs) by some Germans, many feeling betrayed by her actions during WWII, but was on the other
hand also warmly welcomed by many Germans. When hearing the chants, "Marlene go home",
Dietrich was quoted as saying, "I guess they have a love-hate feeling for me." She also
undertook a tour of Israel around the same time, which was well-received; she sang some songs
in German during her concerts, thus breaking the unofficial taboo against the use of German
in Israel.
In later years it has also been indicated that she was bisexual, and involved in romantic
affairs with actresses Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert and Ona Munson, among
others. Dietrich was also involved with Joseph P. Kennedy and future President John F. Kennedy!
Stage and cabaret:
Marlene Dietrich in a 1972 London concertFrom the 1950s to the mid-1970s Dietrich toured
internationally as a successful cabaret performer. Her repertoire included songs from her
films as well as popular songs of the day. Until the mid-1960s her musical director was famed
composer Burt Bacharach.
His arrangements helped to disguise Dietrich's limited vocal range and allowed her to perform
her songs to maximum dramatic effect. Spectacular costumes (by Jean Louis), body-sculpting
rubber undergarments, careful stage lighting, tight dresses into which she was sewn standing
up, and, reportedly, gruesome mini-facelifts (achieved by weaving her hair into tight braids,
pinning them tightly to her scalp with surgical needles, and then topping it all with sexy
wigs) helped to preserve Dietrich's glamorous image well into old age.
In 1968, she received a Tony Award for her stage show. In 1973, her stage show was broadcast
on television.
Final years:
Her show business career largely ended on September 29, 1975, when she broke her leg during a
stage performance. She appeared briefly in the film, Just a Gigolo, in 1979, and wrote and
contributed to several books during the 1980s.
She spent her last decade mostly bed-ridden, in her apartment on the avenue Montaigne in
Paris, during which time she was not seen in public but was a prolific letter-writer and
phone-caller. Maximilian Schell persuaded Dietrich to be interviewed for his 1984 documentary
Marlene, but she did not appear on screen. She was somewhat estranged from her daughter, but
got on well with her grandson, Peter Riva. Her own husband, Rudolf Sieber, had died of cancer
on June 24, 1976.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2005, her daughter and
grandson claim that Marlene Dietrich was politically "active" during these years. She would
keep contact with world leaders by telephone, running up a monthly bill of over 3,000 (USD).
Her contacts included Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, though whether she had any
influence on them, is unknown.
Dietrich died peacefully of natural causes May 6, 1992, at the age of 90 in Paris, France. A
service was conducted at La Madeleine in Paris before 3,500 mourners and a crowd of
well-wishers outside. Her body, covered with an American flag, was then returned to Berlin
where she was interred at the Städtischer Friedhof III, Berlin-Schöneberg, Stubenrauchstraße
43-45, in Friedenau Cemetery, not far from the house where she was born.
In 1994 her memorabilia were sold to the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek (after US institutions
showed no interest) where it became the core of the exhibition(see [1]) at the Sony Center on
Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany, which is not far away from the square named
Marlene-Dietrich-Platz in her honour on November 8, 1997.
Her place in Hollywood:
Berlin-Schöneberg Dietrich never integrated into the Hollywood entertainment industry, being
always an outsider for mainstream America. Her heavy German accent gave an extra touch to her
performance but made her look "foreign" in the eyes of Americans.
Dietrich was a fashion icon to the top designers as well as a screen icon whom later stars
would follow. Her public image and some of her movies included strong sexual undertones,
including bisexuality.
Intriguingly, as the writer Tony Barrell has pointed out (London Sunday Times, January 1, 2006)
, Dietrich was born on exactly the same day as another famous actress, Irene Handl. Though
they played very different parts, both were educated at all-girls schools and had connections
with Noël Coward.
Filmography:
In Fortune's Shadow (1919) (role unconfirmed)
Love Tragedy (1923)
The Little Napoleon (1923)
Man by the Roadside (1923)
The Monk from Santarem (1924)
Leap Into Life (1924)
Dance Fever (1925)
The Imaginary Baron (1926)
Manon Lescaut (1926)
Madame Doesn't Want Children (1926)
A Modern DuBarry (1927)
Heads Up, Charley! (1927)
His Greatest Bluff (1927)
Cafe Electric (1927)
Princess Olala (1928)
The Happy Mother (1928) (short subject)
Dangers of the Engagement Period (1929)
I Kiss Your Hand Madame (1929)
The Woman One Longs For (1929)
The Ship of Lost Men (1929)
The Blue Angel (1930)
Morocco (1930)
Dishonored (1931)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Blonde Venus (1932)
The Song of Songs (1933)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935) (short subject)
The Devil is a Woman (1935)
I Loved a Soldier (1936) (unfinished)
Desire (1936)
The Garden of Allah (1936)
Knight Without Armor (1937)
Angel (1937)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Seven Sinners (1940)
The Flame of New Orleans (1941)
Manpower (1941)
The Lady Is Willing (1942)
The Spoilers (1942)
Pittsburgh (1942)
Show Business at War (1943) (short subject)
Follow the Boys (1944)
Kismet (1944)
Martin Roumagnac (1946)
Golden Earrings (1947)
A Foreign Affair (1948)
Jigsaw (1949) (Cameo)
Stage Fright (1950)
No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Rancho Notorious (1952)
The Monte Carlo Story (1956)
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Black Fox: The True Story of Adolf Hitler (1962) (documentary) (narrator)
Paris, When It Sizzles (1964) (Cameo)
Triumph Over Violence (1965) (documentary) (narrator)
Just a Gigolo (1979)
Marlene (1984) (documentary) (Dietrich insisted to director Maximilian Schell that her voice
only be heard)
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