Hello
everyone! Today we are learing about a very amazing person. I was
inspired by google and today being the anniversary of Marlene
Dietrich's birthday, I decided it would be exciting to learn about
her! Marlene was born in Schoneberg in Germany in 1901. She had a
father, mother and sister but her father passed away in 1907. Her
mother remarried but later her step-father would die in World War I.
When
she was a young girl, she loved to play the violin and wanted to go
to a very good German music school but after a wrist injury, she
could no longer play. Luckily, she also had interest in theater and
dance. She applied to Reinhardt's School, though she didn't get
accepted at first. While she waited she made her first appearance on
stage as a chorus girl in 1921. The year after, she was in her first
movie. She was involved in many German films, one where she played
opposite of Rudolf Sieberwhich. She would marry him and they had the
only child they ever would. Her name was Maria.
While
continuing to appear in German films, she would go through countless
affairs with people of both gender. Her big break came when Austrian
filmmaker Josef von Sternberg was looking for an insanely sexy woman
to play cabaret star Lola Lola in his move the Blue Angel. Lola Lola
was the type of woman men would do anything for because of their love
for her and Sternberg needed the perfect actress. Initially when she
did her screen test, Marlene didn't impress the people working for
the director. But when Sternberg saw her himself, he knew she was the
woman for this role. The Blue Angel became an international success.
Paramount Pictures in Hollywood saw her talent and signed her to
their studio. In 1930 in spring, she came to Hollywood.
Probably
best known for the role she would portray in 1930, Marlene appeared
in Morocco. In this film debut in America, she dressed as a man and
kissed a woman! It was sensational performance and would earn Marlene
her only Academy Award Nomination. Morocco earned the studio 2
million dollars, which is quite a lot, especially in the 30s!
For
the next five years, Dietrich continued to work with director
Sternberg. Though their films were set abroad, they always filmed in
the studio. Sternberg was such a talented director that he made
Marlene look more amazing than she already was with his genius film
work. Because of Marlene's ability to be both deeply sensual and
beautiful as well as make a stand in her pants, ties and blazers, she
was widely loved by both sexes. Men wanted to be with her and women
wanted to be her.
Unfortunately,
from about 1935 to 1937, Dietrich starred in some big box office
flops, costing the studio big loses to the point that Paramount
bought out the last of her contract. Against all the odds, Marlene
came back with a bang in the movie See What the Boys in the Back Room
Will Have. She delivered one of her best performances as a saloon
entertainer. Though her career began to dwindle at the start of World
War II, she continued to have affairs with famous people. These
included John Wayne, Gary Cooper, German cabaret singer Margo Lion,
female speedboat racer Marion Carstairs, Yul Brynner, George Bernard
Shaw, Cuban writer Mercedes de Acosta and John F. Kennedy. Throughout
all her affairs, she remained married to Sieberwhich.
Universal
signed Dietrich in 1940, bringing her to the top again. She made a
few films that failed to impress. But even with her career lagging
again, Marlene would become hugely involved in the efforts of World
War II. She sold the most bonds of any other celebrity, perfomed for
the USO and even created propaganda radio broadcasts. For all she did
for the war, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She said
this was her proudest moment of her whole life.
When
her daugther gave birth in 1948, Marlene was called “the world's
most glamorous grandma”. Though she was aging, Dietrich wouldn't
quit acting. She starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright in 1950.
Hollywood failed to give her consistent work, so she went on to start
a stage show, touring the world. Her act was her singing some of her
most popular songs in beautiful dresses and then for the second half,
dressing like a man and singing songs made for male singers.
While
she was doing her stage work, she still made some movies
occasionally. Marlene made a rather nice job in Witness for the
Prosecution in 1957 and later would regain her former film glory in
the movie Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961. Both were courtroom dramas
in which she showed her undeniable talent. Her last screen appearance
was in a German film in 1978.
Throught
the 60s and 70s, Dietrich performed her stage show in places all over
the world! During a performance in Jerusalem, she broke an uspoken
taboo about singing in German in Israel. When she performed in
Germany, the people thought her a traitor since she was clearly with
America during the war. She had a show on Broadway in 1967, which
earned her a Tony Award. The Broadway show was made into a television
special called Marlene Dietrich: I Wish You Love.
About
this time, her health began to go downhill. She was using alcohol and
painkillers in an attempt to ease the pain of an earlier injury and
the abuse of the substances made her health worse. Marlene needed
skin grafts after an accident from falling off the stage and breaking
her leg. She was forced to retire by this injury. She lived the rest
of her life in seclusion, moving to Paris where she died in 1992 at
the age of 90.
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