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Dietrich, Marlene

Marlene Dietrich

Maria Magdalene Dietrich was born December 27, 1901 to Lieutenant Louis Erich Otto Dietrich and Wilhelmina Elisabeth Josephine Felsing (died 1945).  Her list of credits is ample evidence to her rigorous work ethic. Through her film career, she met and on May 17, 1924, married Rudolf Sieber. On December 12, 1924, she gave birth to a daughter Maria. While the marriage was never dissolved - in fact, it was strongly defended - it became a strange fiction quickly enough. Dietrich and Seiber retained a very close relationship but both people began new relationships. In 1926 she cut her first record, and in 1927 got her first starring role in Ship of Lost Men directed by Maurice Tourneur. 

In the Fall of 1929, she was "discovered" by Josef von Sternberg and contracted to star in The Blue Angel, an American/German co-production. Although this film was made in Germany, Dietrich moved to the U.S. to fulfil a 6 movie contract with Paramount. All but one of these was directed by von Sternberg. The Blue Angel and then Morocco, her next film, remain two of the great moments in cinema. 

Most of Dietrich's movies between 1936 and 1950 are unremarkable. A footnote goes to Destry Rides Again (1939) with Jimmy Stewart where she successfully plays a tongue-in-cheek version of herself. A second footnote goes to A Foreign Affair (1948) directed by Billy Wilder which incorporates some good unglorified visions of black-market wartime. 

In 1950, Dietrich made one of her great movies. Stage Fright by Alfred Hitchcock is not a superficial movie. Perhaps that is why it was one of his less well received outings initially. However, it's reputation has grown over the years and rightly so. 

Unfortunately, Dietrich couldn't capitalize on her film success. The next few years were dedicated to learning how to perfect a stage act. This turn of career is not completely unsurprising when one remembers her USO success. At the end of 1953, she opened in Las Vegas and in 1954 played in England. 

In 1957 she took a break from the stage to make another great movie. Witness for the Prosecution, with Charles Laughton and Tyrone Power, was Dietrich's second movie with Billy Wilder and this one worked fantastically. While Dietrich had many complaints about the production - some justified, but when did she not? - this is Dietrich's most dynamic role. 

Dietrich returned to the stage. In 1960, she toured Germany and Israel, both to rave reviews. To her credit it took guts to go back to Germany when the press and public were calling her traitor but somehow she managed to win them over. In Israel she broke the taboo against the German language - again it took guts and again it worked. 

In 1961, Dietrich acted in Stanley Kramer's Judgement at Nuremberg, her last great movie. While the role was rather small, Dietrich performed brilliantly and made substantial contributions to historical accuracy. In 1962, she narrated The Black Fox, a very serious documentary about Hitler to appreciative reviews. 

Back on stage, she toured Russia in 1964, Broadway in 1967 and the World Exposition in Montreal (June, 1967) in addition to her usual Vegas and London England stints. In 1972, she did her first TV special. On September 29, 1975, she broke her leg in Sydney, Australia. 

Marlene Dietrich died of kidney and liver failure in her Paris apartment on May 6, 1992. 

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Information courtesy of The Internet Movie Database. Used with permission.