Dietrich Marlene

German-American actress and singer who achieved 62 years of international fame as an immortal screen goddess in German and American films. She received the U.S. Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor, and the Belgium Knight of the Order of Leopold for her war efforts in entertaining Allied troops in WWII. In 1954, she began her cabaret performances appearing on stages worldwide. Her private life was legendary for her love affairs with famous men and women of her time. Her father, Louis Otto Dietrich, was a Prussian Calvary major who died in WW I when she was nine. Her mother, Josephine, was the daughter of wealthy watch merchant. Growing up in an upper middle class Prussian home in the Weimar Republic, Dietrich lived a privileged life of private schools, violin, dance and French lessons. She excelled at school with a love for poetry, literature and music. She became serious about her violin playing and considered a concert career. Her first job was playing in a small combo for silent movies. At 16, she had her first affair with her violin instructor. A hand injury at 18 forced the young woman to change career paths and study drama. She enrolled at the Max Reinhardt acting school and appeared on stage in small roles. Her enthusiastic, lively personality attracted supporting and starring movie roles to the young beauty. She met and married a casting director, Rudolf Sieber on 17 May 1924 and her only child, Maria was born the following year. It was as a young wife and mother she met the man who would change her life from German actress to international star. Film director Josef von Sternberg was casting for his movie "The Blue Angel" and he was captivated by the young Dietrich. He set out to present her on the screen as a movie goddess with expert lighting and camera angles. Before the premiere, Dietrich was already receiving invitations from Hollywood. On 1 April 1930, "Blue Angel" premiered in Berlin to standing ovations. Dietrich took her bows and left the theatre to the boat train to Bremen to set sail for America still wearing her premiere evening gown and leaving behind her husband and daughter. In Hollywood, Dietrichs career flourished as the film industrys best directors such as Billy Wilder, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Alfred Hitchcock, Raoul Walsh, and Ernst Lubitsch clamored to work with her. She understood the technical side of movie-making and following her mentor, Josef von Sternbergs expertise by insisting on the best camera angles and lighting techniques to show off her beautiful face. She made 35 American films with "Witness for the Prosecution", 1958 and "Judgment at Nuremberg", 1961 considered to be her finest. Her husband, Rudolf and six-year-old daughter, Maria joined Marlene in Hollywood in 1931. While Marlene was married to Rudolf all of her life, they stopped having sexual relations before Maria was born. They lived as a happily married couple for the Hollywood press but in reality they both sought other love partners. Marlene was visited by many of her Hollywood leading men and her daughter became used to her mothers revolving door of love relationships. Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Jean Gabin, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner; writers Mercedes de Acosta, Colette, Gertrude Stein; politicians Adlai Stevenson and John F. Kennedy were a few of her many lovers. She was a free spirit, aggressively bi-sexual and one of the most famous cross-dressers of her time. Her love of coutur Read less