She had long, slender legs, mesmerizing eyes, and a charisma that captivated many powerful men – and women as well. Thanks to her unconventional lifestyle and refusal to conform, Marlene Dietrich became a legend who remains unforgettable.
She was born on December 27, 1901, in Schöneberg, now part of Berlin, into the family of an aristocratic mother and a police officer. Her family ties reached into Czech lands, which positively influenced her relationship with Czechoslovakia.
Some sources also mention possible connections to the Czech noble Kolowrat family, although these are not conclusively documented. She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich. Her family called her Lena, and later she combined her given names to form Marlene. In 1907, her father died and her mother remarried. Family happiness did not last long – in 1916, Marlene lost her stepfather in the First World War. She and her sister were raised by governesses, who taught them to play the violin and piano, speak foreign languages, and behave properly in society. She received her basic education at a girls’ boarding school, where she learned the violin. She later moved to Weimar, where she studied privately with Professor Robert Reitz and continued at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. Professor Reitz is also associated with her first sexual experiences.
The Blue Angel
Marlene practiced so intensely at the academy that she injured her hand. This crucial moment redirected her toward Max Reinhardt’s acting school in Berlin, where she studied cabaret and acting. She gained her first stage experience in theatre and cabaret, where she met her husband, film agent Rudolf Sieber. They married in 1923, and a year later their only child, daughter Maria Riva, was born. Berlin was trying to forget the trauma of war and experimenting with entertainment and sexuality. Marlene was open about her bisexuality and, together with her husband, became a familiar presence in provocative, free-spirited clubs. She began appearing in smaller German films, but her breakthrough came in 1930 with The Blue Angel. The film was directed in Germany by American director Josef von Sternberg, who later invited her to Hollywood. She had to transform her appearance according to studio demands – including dieting, reshaping her face by having two molars removed, and adopting a new make-up style with thin, arched eyebrows. The result was the iconic femme fatale – mysterious, alluring, seductive, yet vulnerable. In 1930, the two made Morocco, earning Marlene her first Oscar nomination. She played a cabaret singer and made cinematic history with a scene in which, dressed in men’s trousers, she kissed a woman.
With composer Burt Bacharach in 1960 in Jerusalem.
Lovers and relationships
Her relationship with Sternberg evolved into an affair, joining a long list of lovers – both men and women – throughout her life. Her marriage existed only on paper, and she had no intimate relationship with her husband after the birth of their daughter, who was largely raised by her father and nannies. The couple never divorced. Among her prominent lovers were Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, President John F. Kennedy, Jean Gabin, Frank Sinatra, Gary Cooper, and Marlon Brando. She also shared a close relationship with singer Édith Piaf. Her love life was rich and openly lived – she was attracted to both women and men. Her bisexuality was unusually public for the time, although many relationships remain surrounded by speculation and mystery. In the first half of the 1930s, Marlene Dietrich became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Under Sternberg’s direction, she starred in several successful films and became one of the highest-paid actresses of her era. Her name became synonymous with elegance, seduction, and mystery.
Goebbels rejected
She became increasingly aware of the changing political situation in Europe, particularly in her native Germany, where Adolf Hitler was rising to power. In the mid-1930s, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels attempted to persuade her to return to Germany and become a star of Nazi cinema. Marlene Dietrich refused. She could not identify with the regime and gradually distanced herself from Germany entirely. She supported emigrants and artists who had left the country. In 1939, she obtained American citizenship. When the United States declared war on Germany in 1941, her former homeland stood against her new one. On the other side was also her sister, who lived in Germany and, together with her husband, ran a cinema for Nazi personnel at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Although she did not directly participate in the regime’s crimes, her position was viewed very controversially after the war, and Marlene distanced herself from her. She actively joined the fight against Nazism. She performed for American soldiers directly on the front line, traveled to dangerous areas, and boosted troop morale through her appearances. She often wore a uniform. She also participated in the sale of war bonds. According to legend, in nightclubs she would sit on the laps of intoxicated donors and keep them there until their checks were verified. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited her to the White House to thank her for her support, but also asked her to stop this form of fundraising, which he described as inappropriate. She respected his request and thereafter focused on performing for soldiers in barracks, hospitals, and on the front.
Refusal of help
After the war, Marlene returned to America but never fully felt at home there. In 1949, she embarked on a postwar European tour, which included a visit to Czechoslovakia, a country with which she had family ties and many friends among artists. Czechoslovakia formally recognized her connection by granting her citizenship. However, she was not welcomed everywhere. During a tour of Germany in 1960, audiences in Berlin booed her – a reaction to her outspoken rejection of the Nazi regime and her support for the Allies during the war. In 1979, she suffered a fall in her bedroom that resulted in a fractured femur. Stubbornly rebellious, she refused medical help. She withdrew to her bed in her Paris apartment and never left it again until her death on May 6, 1992.
During a concert in France, surrounded by American soldiers.
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