Marlene Dietrich is a German and American actress and singer. In the 30s of the twentieth century, Marlene becomes a real sex symbol and the embodiment of the era. Every woman from Berlin to Los Angeles dreamed of being like Marlene.
Name: Maria Magdalena Dietrich
Date of birth: December 27, 1901
Occupation: actress, singer
Zodiac Sign: Capricorn
Marital status: widow
Date of death: May 6, 1992
Childhood and youth
Maria Magdalena Dietrich was born in Schöneberg, Berlin on December 27, 1901. Marlene’s father, Louis Otto Dietrich, served in the Uhlan regiment before the birth of his daughter, and then was a police lieutenant. Mother Josefina Felzing was the daughter of famous entrepreneurs, her parents owned a jewelry and watch shop.
Mary Magdalene had an older sister, Liesel. As a child, the sisters were friendly, but when, during Nazi Germany, Liesel and her husband opened a cinema with a cafe for concentration camp workers, Marlene stopped calling her her sister. But, despite this, the Dietrich sisters always communicated.
The Dietrich family were far from poor people, so Liesel and Maria Magdalena studied foreign languages and the humanities from early childhood. The girls’ mother, Josefina, was very strict and did not give her daughters any concessions. But, like any mother, she wanted the best for her children and therefore raised her daughters according to all the rules of high society.
When Mary Magdalene was 6 years old, her father died of syphilis. A few years later, her mother married a second time to a teacher from the gymnasium where her daughters studied. This marriage turned out to be short-lived, two years later Josefina found herself a new gentleman – Lieutenant Eduard von Losch.
While studying at the gymnasium, the future actress became seriously interested in music. The girl mastered playing the piano, flute, and violin. There, Mary Magdalena decided to shorten her name and became Marlene.
The usual life of the family was changed by the First World War. During the war, Josefina and her daughters moved to the small town of Dessau, where the girls began to go to the lyceum. At this time, Josephine’s third husband, Eduard, died at the front. At the end of the war, Dietrich again began to live in Berlin.
At the age of 16, Marlene decided to leave school, so she never received a certificate. The mother decided that her daughter should devote her life to music and was not against it when she went to Charlotte von Stein’s boarding house and took private music lessons.
In 1921 Marlene returned to Berlin and began to play in an orchestra. Violinist career ended due to inflammation of the tendons of the fingers. But for Marlene, it was a great chance to start a new life.
A year later, Marlene began taking private lessons from the director of the acting school Max Reinhart at the Deutsches Theater Bertolt Held. Six months later, Marlene mastered the choreography and decided to study vocals.
Marlene Dietrich in cinema and music
Marlene often performed on stage with the violin, sometimes she sang. Dancing lessons allowed her to earn some extra money as a dancer in one of the clubs in Berlin. Marlene Dietrich’s acting debut happened on the stage of the German Theater in the play Pandora’s Box.
In the cinema, Dietrich did not appear without outside help. Her uncle had a good friend, a director, to whom he introduced her to. So Marlene got a small role in the film “These are the men.” Then the actress received another episodic role in the film “The Tragedy of Love” (1923).
In connection with her marriage, Marlene took a break from acting for two years. In 1925, the actress again appeared on the theater stage and with small roles in the cinema. Marlene Dietrich’s first leading role was in the film The Electrician’s Cafe (1927), followed by another in Kiss Your Hand, Madame, with actor Harry Liedtke.
In 1928, the voice of Marlene Dietrich sounded from her first disc, It’s in the Air.
Director Joseph von Sternberg saw Marlene Dietrich in one of the films and offered her cooperation. The Blue Angel of 1930 opened the doors to a big movie for her. The film was shot in two languages - German and English and was being prepared for worldwide distribution. Marlene managed to outshine everyone and become the highlight of the picture, and the songs she performed in the film became hits. After the release of The Blue Angel, Marlene leaves for Hollywood. There she signs a contract with the famous Paramount Pictures company and continues to work with director Sternberg.
Her first Hollywood film was the melodrama Morocco. After the film was released, everyone was shocked – Marlene appeared on the screen in a men’s trouser suit. For that time it was a real revolution. Many women followed the example of the film actress and also began to introduce men’s clothes into their wardrobes. For her role in Morocco, Marlene Dietrich received her only Oscar nomination.
After “Morocco” Marlene and Stenberg made 5 more films. All of them received good reviews from critics and viewers. The last joint film of the actress and director was released in 1935 under the title The Devil is a Woman.
While Marlene shone in Hollywood in her homeland, the rule of the Third Reich and active propaganda of National Socialism began in Germany. Adolf Hitler saw in Marlene Dietrich the face of the Third Reich. German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels offered the actress 200,000 Reichsmarks for a film with her participation. Marlene herself could choose which film to shoot and who would be the director. Dietrich refused and applied for American citizenship.
In 1937, Marlene Dietrich starred in the film “Angel”. The film turned out to be a failure, and the actress decided to take a break in her career for 2 years.
In 1943, Marlene Dietrich again made a choice, not in favor of cinema. The actress for three years sang for the soldiers of the Entente in France, Africa, and Italy. For this, Marlene Dietrich was awarded honorary awards: the Medal of Freedom, the title of Chevalier, and then officer and commander of the order of the Legion of Honor.
After traveling with concerts, Marlene returned to the cinema. Her most successful role since her return was the title role in Foreign Romance. Dietrich’s former popularity returned – her voice was listened to on the radio, and glossy magazines published her articles.
In the 50s, Marlene nevertheless decided to act as a performer. She went on tour in America and then came to her native Germany.
There, the artist was met with a hostile attitude. In Germany, Dietrich was considered a traitor to her homeland because she so defiantly renounced German citizenship. Marlene went through humiliation – they threw eggs at her during a performance, and after one of the concerts, some girl spat right in the singer’s face. But Marlene Dietrich was warmly received in the USSR. She came with concerts in Moscow and Leningrad. During a performance in Moscow, Marlene met her favorite writer, Konstantin Paustovsky.
Marlene Dietrich played her last film role after a 16-year break in the film Beautiful Gigolo, Poor Gigolo. But critics considered the role a failure. In 1982, Maximilian Schell made the documentary film Marlene about Marlene Dietrich. The actress refused to appear in the frame but agreed to an off-screen interview.
Personal life of Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich had only one marriage. On the set of the film “The Tragedy of Love,” Marlene met the site administrator Rudolf Sieber. In May 1923, the couple got married, and a year later their daughter Maria Elisabeth was born.
The relationship between Marlene and Rudolph actually lasted only 5 years, after which the couple stopped living together, but never divorced. They kept in touch, Marlene even helped Rudolf financially when he was battling cancer. Unfortunately, the disease won and the man died in 1976. Receiving American citizenship, Marlene also indicated her husband’s surname – Maria Magdalena Sieber.
The daughter of Marlene and Rudolf followed in her mother’s footsteps and became an actress. All over the world, she is known as Maria Riva.
In 1934, Marlene met the famous writer Ernest Hemingway. It was a real pen-pal that lasted from the first day they met until Ernest’s death in 1961. The touching lines of their letters went down in history.
“I can’t understand how it is that every time I hug you, I feel at home.” – from Ernet Hemingway’s letter to Marlene Dietrich.
After 3 years, Marlene began a new romance, and also with a writer. Erich Maria Remarque and Marlene Dietrich met when the actress was still living in Germany, but the passion between them broke out in Venice in 1937. The writer called Marlene Puma, a wild cat. When Remarque is deprived of citizenship in Germany, Dietrich helps him get an American visa and move to the United States. Marlene and Erich’s relationship soon fades away. Marlene Dietrich became the prototype of Joan Madu, the heroine of Remarque’s novel Arc de Triomphe.
In 1941, another man appeared in the life of the actress – Jean Gabin, a French actor. The relationship lasted 6 years, but they cannot be called happy, they brought a lot of suffering to both lovers.
Last years
A terrible injury put an end to the career of an actress. At a concert in Sydney in 1975, Marlene Dietrich fell and broke her hip. The artist was urgently hospitalized in a New York hospital, where she spent almost a year.
After being discharged, Marlene came to Paris to her apartment on Avenue Montaigne. There, the actress began to live in seclusion. She did not want to be seen with a cane, so she did not appear in public and communicate with everyone but her closest ones on the phone. To cope with the pain in her leg, Marlene drank a lot of painkillers, and due to depression, a lot of alcohol. This caused a malfunction of the kidneys and heart.
On May 6, 1992, at the age of 90, Marlene Dietrich died in her Paris apartment. Thousands of fans came to say goodbye to their favorite actress. 2 flags were laid on the coffin of the actress – American and French, and she was buried in her hometown of Schöneberg, next to her mother’s grave.
Filmography of Marlene Dietrich
- 1922 – These are the men
- 1923 – The tragedy of love
- 1923 – Man on the road
- 1924 – Leap into life
- 1926 – Manon Lesko
- 1926 – Modern Dubarry
- 1926 – Keep your head up, Charlie!
- 1926 – Madame does not want children
- 1927 – His greatest deceit
- 1927 – Cafe Electric
- 1929 – I kiss your hand, madam
- 1929 – A woman who is desired
- 1929 – Dangers of mating season
- 1930 – Blue Angel
- 1930 – Morocco
- 1931 – Dishonored
- 1932 – Blonde Venus
- 1932 – Shanghai Express
- 1933 – Song of Songs
- 1934 – Dissolute Empress
- 1935 – The Devil is a Woman
- 1936 – Desire
- 1936 – Now Allah
- 1937 – Knight without armor
- 1937 – Angel
- 1939 – Destry back in the saddle
- 1940 – Seven Sinners
- 1941 – Energy
- 1942 – So the lady wants
- 1942 – Scoundrels
- 1942 – Pittsburgh
- 1942 – New Orleans Light
- 1944 – Kismet
- 1944 – Following the boys
- 1946 – Martin Rumagnac
- 1947 – Gold Earrings
- 1948 – Foreign novel
- 1949 – Puzzle
- 1950 – Stage Fright
- 1951 – There is no highway in the sky
- 1951 – The Notorious Ranch
- 1956 – Around the world in 80 days
- 1957 – Monte Carlo
- 1957 – Witness for the Prosecution
- 1957 – Seal of Evil
- 1961 – Nuremberg Trials
- 1962 – Black Fox. The True Story of Adolf Hitler
- 1964 – Paris, when it’s hot
- 1978 – Beautiful gigolo, poor gigolo
- 1984 – Marlene
