Marlene Dietrich the biography

Marlene Dietrich, Actress, - Biography

Actress

Born December 27, 1901, Berlin-Schöneberg, German Empire, now in the Federal Republic of Germany,
Died May 6, 1992, Paris, France
Years active 1919 - 1984
Spouse(s) Rudolf Sieber (1924-1976)

Height 5 foot 5 in ( 165 cm ).

Marlene Dietrich was a German-born actress, singer, & entertainer.

Throughout her long career, starting as a cabaret singer, chorus girl & film actress in 1920s Berlin, Hollywood movie star in the 1930s, World War II frontline entertainer during the 1940s, & finally as an international stage show performer from the 1950s to the 1970s, Dietrich constantly re-invented herself & eventually became one of the entertainment icons of the 20th century. The American Film Institute ranked Dietrich No. 9 amongst the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.
She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich in Schöneberg near Berlin, Germany to Louis Erich Otto Dietrich & Wilhelmina Elisabeth Josephine Dietrich (née Felsing) on December 27, 1901. Nicknamed "Lena" within the family, she contracted her two first names to form the then-unusual name, Marlene, when she was still a teenager. Dietrich's father was an officer in the German army who served in the Franco-Prussian War. He died when Dietrich was 11, Marlene's mother married Eduard von Losch, & von Losch adopted the Dietrich children.

Dietrich studied the violin before starting work as a chorus girl & actress for Max Reinhardt in theatre productions in Berlin & Vienna throughout the 1920s.

She made her film debut in 1923 & appeared in a significant number of movies without attracting any special attention. In 1929, though, she got the breakthrough role of Lola-Lola, a cabaret singer who causes the downfall of a hitherto respected schoolmaster, in UFA's production, The Blue Angel (1930). The film was directed by Josef von Sternberg, who thereafter took credit for having "discovered" Dietrich. The film is also noteworthy for having introduced Dietrich's signature song "Falling in Love Again".

From the trailer for Stage Fright (1950)On the strength of The Blue Angel's success, & with encouragement & promotion from von Sternberg, who was already established in Hollywood, Dietrich then moved to the US on contract to Paramount. The studio sought to market Dietrich as a German answer to MGM's Swedish sensation Greta Garbo. Her first American film, Morocco, directed by von Sternberg, earned Dietrich her only Oscar nomination.

Dietrich's most lasting contribution to film history was as the star of a series of six films directed by von Sternberg at Paramount between 1930 & 1935: Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress, & The Devil is a Woman. Von Sternberg had seen potential in Dietrich that other German directors had missed (and which, even in retrospect, is not necessarily obvious even in The Blue Angel). In Hollywood he worked very effectively with Dietrich to create the image of a glamorous femme fatale. He encouraged her to lose weight & coached her intensively as an actress -- she, in turn, was willing to trust him & follow his sometimes imperious direction in a way that a number of other performers resisted. A crucial part of the overall effect was created by von Sternberg's exceptional skill in lighting & photographing Dietrich to optimum effect -- the use of light & shadow, including the impact of light passed through a veil or slatted blinds (as for example in Shanghai Express) -- which, when combined with scrupulous attention to all aspects of set design & costumes, make this series of films among the most visually stylish in cinema history. Critics still debate vigorously how much of the credit belonged to von Sternberg & how much to Dietrich, but most would agree that neither consistently reached such heights again after Paramount fired von Sternberg & the two ceased to work together.

Without von Sternberg, Dietrich by 1939 was being labelled "box office poison" after her 1937 Korda film Knight Without Armour proved an expensive flop. In 1939, however, her stardom was revived when she played the cowboy saloon girl Frenchie in the light-hearted western Destry Rides Again opposite James Stewart. The movie also introduced another favorite song, "See what the boys in the back room will have." She played a similar role in 1942 with John Wayne in The Spoilers. While she arguably never fully regained her former screen glory, she continued performing in the movies, including appearances for such distinguished directors as Wilder, Hitchcock & Welles, & in successful films that included A Foreign Affair, Witness for the Prosecution, Touch of Evil, Judgment at Nuremberg & Stage Fright.

World War II
In 1937, while her film career stalled in Hollywood, she made a film in London for producer Alexander Korda. In later interviews, she claimed that, while in London to film Knight Without Armour (1937), she was approached by representatives of the Nazi Party to return to Germany, but turned them down flat. Dietrich became an American citizen in 1939.

In 1941 the U.S. entered the Second World War & 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 & the mind to speak them. Like many Weimar era German entertainers, she was a staunch anti-Nazi who despised anti-Semitism.

She recorded a number of anti Nazi records in German for the OSS, including "Lili Marleen". She also played the musical saw to entertain troops. She sang for the Allied troops on the front lines in Algiers, France & into Germany with Generals James M. Gavin & 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 replied, "aus Anstand" – "it was the decent thing to do".

Dietrich was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the US Government for her war work. She was also made a chevalier (later commandeur) of the Légion d'Honneur by the French government.

Recordings
Dietrich had a smoky & world-weary singing voice which she used to great effect in many of her films, on records & later during her world-wide concert tours. Kenneth Tynan called her voice her "third dimension". Ernest Hemingway thought that "if she had nothing more than her voice, she could break your heart with it".

Dietrich’s recording career spanned over half a century. Prior to international stardom, she recorded a duet, "Wenn die Beste Freundin", with Margo Lion. This song, with its lesbian overtones, was a hit in Berlin in 1928.

In 1930, she recorded English & German-language selections from her film, Der Blaue Engel, for Electrola in Berlin. It was at this time that she recorded Frederick Hollander’s "Falling in Love Again" for the first time -- it would become her theme song, to be sung in thousands of concerts & forever identified with her.

A 1933 Parisian recording session for Polydor produced several classic tracks, including Franz Waxman’s "Allein in Einer Grossen Stadt". She recorded "The Boys in the Back Room" from Destry Rides Again for Decca Records in 1939. In 1945, she recorded her version of "Lili Marleen".

Dietrich signed with Columbia Records in the 1950s, with Mitch Miller as her producer. The 1950 LP Marlene Dietrich Overseas, with Dietrich singing German translations of American songs of the World War II era, was a prestige hit. She also recorded several duets with Rosemary Clooney; these tapped into a younger market & charted.

During the 1960s, Dietrich recorded several albums & many singles, mostly with Burt Bacharach at the helm of the orchestra. Dietrich in London, recorded live at the Queen’s Theatre in 1964, is an enduring document of Dietrich in concert. In 1972, Dietrich taped a television special, An Evening With Marlene Dietrich -- also known as I Wish You Love -- at the New London Theatre in London: the concert was re-released, with bonus material, as a 75-minute DVD in 2003.

In 1978, her performance of the title track from her last film, Just a Gigolo, was issued as a single. She made her last recordings from her Paris apartment in 1987: spoken introductions to songs for a nostalgia album by Udo Lindenberg.

Asked by Maximillian Schell in his documentary Marlene (1984) which of her own recordings were her favourites, she replied that she thought Marlene Singt Berlin-Berlin (1964), an album featuring her singing old Berlin schlager (popular songs) was her best recorded work.

Stage & cabaret
Dietrich in An Evening With Marlene Dietrich (1972), concert filmed at the New London Theatre.

From 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 & allowed her to perform her songs to maximum dramatic effect. Costumes by Jean Louis, body-sculpting undergarments, careful stage lighting & temporary mini-facelifts helped to preserve Dietrich's glamorous image well into old age.

Her return to Germany in 1960 for a concert tour elicited a mixed response. Many Germans felt she had betrayed her homeland by her actions during World War II. During her performances at Berlin's Titania Palast theatre, protesters chanted, "Marlene Go Home!" On the other hand, Dietrich was warmly welcomed by other Germans, including Berlin mayor Willy Brandt. The tour was an artistic triumph but a financial failure. She also undertook a tour of Israel around the same time, which was well-received; she sang some songs in German during her concerts, including a German version of Pete Seeger's anti-war anthem Where Have All the Flowers Gone, thus breaking the unofficial taboo against the use of German in Israel.

In 1968, she received a Tony Award for her stage show. The show was broadcast on television in 1973.

Final years
Her show business career largely ended on September 29, 1975, when she broke her leg during a stage performance in Australia. She appeared briefly in the film, Just a Gigolo, in 1979, & wrote & contributed to several books during the 1980s.

She spent her last decade mostly bed-ridden, in her apartment at no. 12 avenue Montaigne in Paris, during which time she was not seen in public but was a prolific letter-writer & phone-caller. Maximilian Schell persuaded Dietrich to be interviewed for his 1984 documentary Marlene, but she did not appear on screen. She was in constant contact with her daughter, who came to Paris regularly to check on her. Her husband, Rudolf Sieber, had died of cancer on June 24, 1976.

Marlene Dietrich's gravestoneIn an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel in November 2005, her daughter & 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 US$3,000. Her contacts included Ronald Reagan & Mikhail Gorbachev.

Dietrich died peacefully of renal failure on May 6, 1992, at the age of 90 in Paris. A service was conducted at La Madeleine in Paris before 3,500 mourners & 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.

Private life
Unlike her professional celebrity, which was carefully crafted & 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 Elisabeth Sieber, was born in Berlin on December 13, 1924. She would later become an actress, primarily working in television, known as Maria Riva. When Maria gave birth to a son in 1948, Dietrich was dubbed "the world's most glamorous grandmother". After Dietrich's death, Riva published a relatively critical memoir of her mother.

The great love of the actress's life was the French actor & military hero Jean Gabin. Their relationship ended in the mid-1940s. During the 1950s, she had relationships with Edward R. Murrow, Yul Brynner, & Frank Sinatra. She remained close to her husband, but he lived on a chicken farm in California with his unstable longterm mistress, Tamara Matul.

Dietrich was bisexual. She had an affair with writer Mercedes de Acosta, who published her autobiography Here Lies the Heart in 1960.

According to Maria Riva's memoir, Dietrich had a brief fling with President John F. Kennedy.

Estate
On October 24, 1993, the largest portion of her estate was sold to the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek --after US institutions showed no interest -- where it became the core of the exhibition at the Filmmuseum Berlin. The collection includes: over 3,000 textile items from the 1920s - 1990s, including film & stage costumes as well as over a thousand items from Dietrich's personal wardrobe; 15,000 photographs, by Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, George Hurrell, Lord Snowdon, Eugene Robert Richee, & Edward Steichen; 300,000 pages of documents, including correspondence with Burt Bacharach, Yul Brynner, Maurice Chevalier, Noel Coward, Jean Gabin, Ernest Hemingway, Karl Lagerfeld, Nancy & Ronald Reagan, Erich Maria Remarque, Josef von Sternberg, Orson Welles, & Billy Wilder; as well as other items like film posters & sound recordings.

The contents of Dietrich's Manhattan apartment, along with other personal effects such as jewellery & items of clothing, were sold by public auction by Sotheby's (Los Angeles) on 1 November 1997.

Image & Legacy
Rumors abounded about Dietrich's lovers & ambiguous sexual orientation.Dietrich never integrated into the Hollywood entertainment industry, being always an outsider for mainstream America. Her 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 who later stars would follow. She once said, "I dress for myself. Not for the image, not for the public, not for the fashion, not for men." Her public image & some of her movies included strong sexual undertones, including bisexuality.

Her distinctive voice was later satirized, along with that of Lotte Lenya, in the song "Lieder" by cult British trio Fascinating Aïda.

Mel Brooks stated on the commentary track of the Blazing Saddles DVD that Dietrich was the inspiration for Madeline Kahn's character, Lily Von Schtupp in that movie.

Madonna paid homage to Dietrich's looks & style several times throughout her career, most notably in the video of "Express Yourself" & during the "Like a Virgin" performance of The Girlie Show Tour. She also included Dietrich in the famous spoken part of her 1990 megahit "Vogue".

In 1992, a plaque was unveiled at Leberstraße 65 in Berlin-Schöneberg, the site of Dietrich's birth.

A stamp bearing her portrait was issued in Germany on 14 August 1997.

After some controversy, it was decided not to name a street after Dietrich in Berlin-Schöneberg, her birthplace. Rather, on November 8, 1997, the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz was unveiled in Berlin to honour Dietrich.

She was made an honourary citizen of Berlin on 16 May 2002.

Filmography
Im Schatten des Glücks (1919)
Love Tragedy (1923)
The Little Napoleon (1923)
Man by the Wayside (1923)
Leap Into Life (1924)
Dance Mad (1925)
The Bogus Baron (1926)
Manon Lescaut (1926)
Madame Doesn't Want Children (1926)
A Modern DuBarry (1927)
Chin Up, Charley! (1927)
His Greatest Bluff (1927)
Cafe Electric (1927)
Princess Olala (1928)
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 Armour (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) (cameo)
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)
An Evening With Marlene Dietrich (I Wish You Love) (1972) London concert film
Just a Gigolo (1979)
Marlene (1984) (documentary) (Dietrich insisted that director Maximilian Schell record only her voice & not film her or her face)

Radio
Lux Radio Theater: The Legionnaire & the Lady opposite Clark Gable (1 August 1936)
Lux Radio Theater: Desire opposite Herbert Marshall (22 July 1937)
Lux Radio Theater: song of Songs opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr (20 December 1937)
The Chase & Sanborn Program with Edgar Bergen & Don Ameche (2 June 1938)
Lux Radio Theater: Manpower opposite Edward G Robinson & George Raft (15 March 1942)
The Gulf Screen Guild Theater: Pittsburgh opposite John Wayne (12 April 1943)
Theatre Guild on the Air: Grand Hotel opposite Ray Milland (24 March 1948)
Studio One: Arabesque (29 June 1948)
Theatre Guild on the Air: The Letter opposite Walter Pidgeon (3 October 1948)
Ford Radio Theater: Madame Bovary opposite Claude Rains (8 October 1948)
Screen Director's Playhouse: A Foreign Affair opposite Rosalind Russell & John Lund (5 March 1949)
MGM Theatre of the Air: Anna Karenina (9 December 1949)
MGM Theatre of the Air: Camille (6 June 1950)
Lux Radio Theater: No Highway in the Sky opposite James stewart (21 April 1952)
Screen Director's Playhouse: A Foreign Affair opposite Lucille Ball & John Lund (1 March 1951)
The Big Show starring Tallullah Bankhead (2 October 1951)
The Child, with Godfrey Kenton, radio play produced by Richard Imison for BBC on 18 August 1965
She made several appearances on AFRS shows like The Army Hour & Command Performance during the war years. In 1952, she had her own series on ABC entitled, Cafe Istanbul. During 1953 - 1954, she starred in 38 episodes of Time for Love on CBS. She recorded 94 short inserts, "Dietrich Talks on Love & Life", for NBC's Monitor in 1958.

Dietrich gave many radio interviews worldwide on her concert tours. In 1960, her show at the Tuchinsky Theatre in Amsterdam was broadcast live on Dutch radio. Her 1962 appearance at the Olympia in Paris was also broadcast.

Television
Complete list of television appearances (excluding news footage):

Unicef Gala (Duesseldorf, 1962): Guest Appearance
Cirque d' Hiver (Paris, 9 March 1963): Cameo as "Garcon de Piste"
Deutsche-Schlager-Festspiele (Baden-Baden, 1963): Guest Appearance
Grand Gala du Disque (Edison Awards) (The Hague, 1963): Guest Appearance
Galakväll pa Berns (Stockholm, 1963): Concert, with introduction by Karl Gerhardt & orchestra conducted by Burt Bacharach
Royal Variey Performance (London, 4 November 1963): Guest Appearance
The Stars Shine for Jack Hylton (London, 1965): Guest Appearance
The Magic of Marlene (Melbourne, October 1965): Concert, with orchestra conducted by William Blezard.
Tony Awards Telecast (New York, 21 April 1968): Acceptance Speech
Guest Star Marlene Dietrich (Copenhagen - for Swedish Television, 1970): Interview
I Wish You Love (An Evening with Marlene Dietrich) (London, 23 & 24 November 1972): Concert TV Special, with orchestra conducted by Stan Freeman.

Written in May 2007

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