Marlene Dietrich was a German-born actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself. In 1920s Berlin, she acted on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel, directed by Josef von Sternberg, brought her international fame and a contract with Paramount Pictures in the US. Hollywood films such as Shanghai Express and Desire capitalised on her glamour and exotic looks, cementing her stardom and making her one of the highest paid actresses of the era. Dietrich became a US citizen in 1937; during World War II, she was a high-profile frontline entertainer. Although she still made occasional films in the post-war years, Dietrich spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a successful show performer. She died in Paris, aged 90 years.In 1999 the American Film Institute named Dietrich the ninth greatest female star of all time.
Received the U.S. War Departments Medal of Freedom, in 1947, for entertaining American troops in WWII and her strong stand against Naziism.
Was made a Chevaliere of the Legion by France.
Born at 9:15pm-CET
Her estate, consisting of about 300.000 pieces, was bid for 8 million German marks by the city of Berlin, Germany.
Interred at Friedhof III, Berlin-Friedenau, Germany.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#60).
Gave birth to her only child at age 22, a daughter Maria Elisabeth Sieber (aka Maria Riva ) on December 13, 1924. Childs father was her husband, Rudolf Sieber.
Marlenes father was Lt. Louis Erich Otto Dietrich, who died when she was very young. Her mother remarried to Colonel Eduard von Losch, who was killed in WWI.
Her father, a Berlin police lieutenant, died after he fell off a horse when she was ten years old.
She sucked lemon wedges between takes to keep her mouth muscles tight.
Never worked without a mirror on the set so she could constantly check her makeup and hair.
Her make-up man said she kissed so hard that she needed a new coat of lipstick after every kiss.
In a posthumous gift of forgiveness, she left her vast collection of memorabilia to the city of Berlin.
She demanded that Max Factor sprinkle half an ounce of real gold dust into her wigs to add glitter to her tresses during filming.
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.
Marlene suffered from bacilophobia, the fear of germs.
Fell and broke her left leg at her last ever last stage appearance in Sydney, Australia, September 1975.
Became an American citizen on March 6, 1937.
Ten years after her death, Berlin - the city of Dietrichs birth which she shunned for most of her life - declared her an honorary citizen. On April 18, 2002, the citys legislature bestowed honor on her as "an ambassador for a democratic, freedom-loving and humane Germany." The declaration hoped this "would symbolize the city of Berlins reconciliation with her."
Appears on the sleeve of The Beatles "Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
She thought of feet to be the ugliest part of the human body, and therefore always tried to hide them in one way or another
The only show-business friend she ever had was Mae West. However, they never saw one another outside the Paramount lot.
Proficient on the musical saw.
She was voted the 43rd Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
Won a Special Tony Award in 1968.
Was named #9 Actress on The AFI 50 Greatest Screen Legends
First German actress to be Oscar-nominated.
Is one of the many movie stars mentioned in Madonna s song "Vogue"
She spent her last decade 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. In 1984, Academy Award winning actor Maximilian Schell persuaded her to be interviewed for a documentary, but she did not appear on screen.
According to daughter Maria Riva , Dietrich had a long-standing dislike of actress Loretta Young.
In Italian films, she was dubbed by either Lydia Simoneschi , Tina Lattanzi or Andreina Pagnani.
Interviewed in "Talking to the Piano Player: Silent Film Stars, Writers and Directors Remember" by Stuart Oderman.
Grandmother of production designer J. Michael Riva.
Lived out her life in apartment #12E at 993 Park Avenue in Manhattan where Jamie Lee Curtis had earlier stayed with then fiance J. Michael Riva (Dietrichs grandson) during the Trading Places shoot.
Was considered for the role of Margo Channing in All About Eve after Claudette Colbert was forced to pull out of the project due to back injury. However the part was given to Bette Davis , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance.
Campaigned for the role of Mama Hanson in I Remember Mama but Irene Dunne , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
Berlin has a street, Marlene Dietrich Platz.
She turned down the role of Charlie in Station West. The part went to Jane Greer.
Became pregnant in 1938 as a result of an affair with James Stewart during the filming of Destry Rides Again but she underwent an abortion. Stewart did not even know she was pregnant.
Nol Coward (1899-1973) and Marlene Dietrich (1904-1992), the German-born American film and cabaret star, had become, and remained, close friends since their first conversation - by transatlantic telephone - in 1935.
The original "One Touch of Venus" Broadway musical production opened at the Imperial Theatre on October 7, 1943, closed on February 10, 1945 after 567 performances. "One Touch of Venus" with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, directed by Ilia Kazan, featured choreography by Agnes de Mille, starred Mary Martin, Kenny Baker and Paula Laurence. The role of Venus was to have starred Marlene Dietrich. Reportedly Dietrich backed out of the title role during rehearsals, calling it "too sexy and profane," which gave Mary Martin the opportunity to establish herself as a Broadway star. The show satirizes contemporary American suburban values, artistic fads and romantic and sexual mores. Weill had been in America for eight years by the time he wrote this musical, and his music, though retaining his early haunting power, had evolved into a very different Broadway style. The book musical by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash was based on the novella "The Tinted Venus" by Thomas Amstey Guthrie, and very loosely spoofing the Pygmalion myth.
[on Der blaue Engel (1930) , German-language version of,Der blaue Engel (1930) ] I thought everything we were doing was,awful. They kept a camera pointed here [at my groin]. I was so young,and dumb.
I am not a myth.
I never enjoyed working in a film.
[in 1964] I had no desire to be a film actress, to always play somebody,else, to be beautiful with somebody constantly straightening out your,every eyelash. It was always a big bother to me.
A country without bordellos is like a house without bathrooms.
The weak are more likely to make the strong weak than the strong are,likely to make the weak strong.
Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
Most women set out to change a man, and when they have changed him they,do not like him.
I have a child and I have made a few people happy. That is all.
The relationship between the make-up man and the film actor is that of,accomplices in crime.
There is a lack of dignity to film stardom.
I never ever took my career seriously.
I was an actress. I made films. Finish.
Latins are tenderly enthusiastic. In Brazil, they throw flowers at you.
In Argentina they throw themselves.
The diaphragm is the greatest invention since Pan-Cake makeup.
Once a woman has forgiven a man, she must not reheat his sins for,breakfast.
[on reading] I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one,might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone,recognizedly wiser than oneself.
Too bad she did not leave her where she found her, so she could now,spit her poison in the slums of some big city. I hate her with a,passion and I know the public will.
But I enjoy nightclub work, wherever it is.
[on her preference for trousers] They are so comfortable. It takes too,much time to be a well-dressed woman. I have watched others. Bags,shoes, hats. They must think of them all the time. I cannot waste that,time.
[after returning to West Germany in 1960] The Germans and I no longer,speak the same language.
[1969] I have never used my body. I have played roles where the legs,were used and the body was used but in life, I have never done that.
[on English audiences] They are marvelous and warm. People say the,English are so unemotional, but this is untrue. At least I never find,them so. To me, they are the most emotional, and also the most,un-phoney people I know. And as I am that way too we get along just,fine together. I think also the English like me because they know that,I do not take myself seriously, and that the whole thing is a joke, and,that I am laughing at myself all the time. And when I laugh, they,laugh. This is fun. We understand each other so well.
Stupid people annoy me. There are fans of mine who worship and idolize,me, and who are in awe of me. They are stupid people. Who am I to be,held in awe? What have I accomplished? If one is to be in awe of,anyone, let it be a doctor or a brilliant scientist. Not a performer. I,could never be friends with anyone who is stupid enough to worship me.
[1963, when asked why, at age 61, she continued to act] For the money.
I do not change my face for my public. I have not tried to create an,image or a myth about myself; I am as quiet and placid off-stage as I,am when the bright lights are on me. No temperaments, no periods of,dark, gloomy despair and pessimism. I am easy-going and the only thing,I cannot stand is stupidity - in any form.
You can be good in a play that is bad and the whole thing flops. It is,just not worth the effort or the heartbreak. I am not a brave or,courageous woman. I prefer to do what I know is safe.
[on her appeal among audiences] It is not nostalgia. Three-quarters of,my audience are young people who cannot possibly be nostalgic simply,because the mood I create is of a period most of them have not lived,in. Besides, the songs that seem to go down best are the newer ones -,that is, when I can find new songs good enough to sing.
[1960s, when asked about the secret of her success] Secret? No secret at,all. I work hard, that is all. People say that I have some sort of,"quality" - well, maybe I have. How am I to know that? All I know is,that I walk onto a stage, stand still, and sing. I think it is Dietrich,the woman they like - rather than Dietrich the singer. They pay to see,me for what I am.
I do not think we have a "right" to happiness. If happiness happens, say thanks.
I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.
Courage and grace is a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is the bullring.
Sex: In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact.
Logic is the key to an all-inclusive spiritual well-being.
Once a woman has forgiven a man she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
Once a woman has forgiven a man she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.
Duties are what make life most worth living. Lacking them you are not necessary to anyone.
Tenderness is greater proof of love than the most passionate of vows.
A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman.
"Glamour" is assurance. It is a kind of knowing that you are all right in every way mentally and physically and in appearance and that whatever the occasion or the situation you are equal to it.
Grumbling is the death of love.
Grumbling is the death of love.
Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him.
Courage and grace are a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is in the bullring.
I never enjoyed working in a film.
There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.
Once a woman has forgiven her man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.
I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men.
A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman. .
