Powerfrauen

With her career spanning nearly half century, appearing in over 54 films and being at a stage the highest paid actress in the world, she has been rightfully called a legend: Marlene Dietrich.

Marilyn meets Marlene 

Born into a military family during the depression years in Germany, she grew up in Berlin. Her father, an German police officer, mysteriously disappeared from family life when Dietrich was only eight years old. With her mother working as a cleaner to support both her and her sister she was left alone to create the persona that would form her working life. She starred in films from the age of 19, described as being 'chunky' and 'not beautiful' she struggled a while, that was until she met an assistant film producer, Rudolf Sieber. 

After marrying and having her first child, Dietrich met Josef von Sternberg. Despite in her audition her Sternberg saying she couldn't act, sing nor have good looks, he cast her in The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel) as the lead. Not only did he create the first 'Marlene Dietrich' but also embarked on an adulterous affair with her during the filming of The Blue Angel.

The Blue Angel previewed in Berlin on April 1st 1930. It was a sensation, with its release said to have gone down in movie history. On the very night of the preview she left for America, leaving husband and daughter behind, she took up a life in Hollywood. She continued to collaborate with Josef von Sternberg, her next film being the hit, Morocco. Cast as a risque cabaret singer, this film revealed her ambiguous sexuality with a night club scene showing the first kiss between two women actresses on the American film screen. 

Marlene Dietrich and daughter Maria Riva

While Morocco had great box office success, the film marked the disintegration of Sternberg and Dietrich's affair, with Sternberg's wife filing for a $500,000 law suit. Dietrich was hailed the 'love pirate' by the press and Sternberg severed ties with her both emotionally and professionally. This didn't seem, however, to have any effect on Dietrich's steam rolling success at Paramount film. She became the highest paid woman in the world, earning over $200,000 a week. By 1939 she had also become a fully fledged diva. She famously demanded a full to ceiling mirror at her sets to inspect her lighting and appearance. However, she was not the only one interested in her looks. Hitler took particular interest Dietrich, keen to preserve anything German. But Marlene had stars and strips on her mind and ignored the tempting offer to come back to Germany to be the darling of the German cinematic world. 

Despite the enormous political pressure for her to come back to Germany and the danger her mother and sister were in back in Berlin, Marlene applied for American citizenship. She considered herself a soldier, touring with American battalions entertaining and preforming to boost moral. She even traveled back to Germany with American troops, even being trapped behind enemy lines on 3 occasions. In 1945 Dietrich was made a captain in the US Army.

Morocco, starring Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou

Coming back from the army in 1945 she was broke, having lived on GI pay of $21 a month. On her return she took up her preforming arms again and worked feverishly like she hadn't worked before. She worked as nightclub performer mainly in Las Vegas but her one woman show also toured the world. Even at the age of 70 she was still going strong, with her shows described as being 'like a form of open magic'. 

In 1975 she fell during one of her acts and broke her leg. It marked the end of her preforming career as she was almost unable to walk. Retreating to an apartment in Paris she became a recluse and after almost 15 years of isolation she died in 1992. It is thought these years of loneliness were to preserve her fans image of her, she could not cope with thought of aging, she wanted to remain the flapper, the cabaret singer, the star.