Hollywood starlet Marlene Dietrich didn’t apologize for who she was
Here are the photos to prove it
In 1987, Maximilian Schell released the documentary, “Marlene.” Schell, a longtime friend of German actress Marlene Dietrich, co-starred in the 1961 film “Judgment at Nuremberg.”
Dietrich refused to be filmed, so Schell was forced to use audio of previously recorded conversations.
But in those photographs, Dietrich sent a message to the camera and the public at large: She didn’t care what people had to say about what she wore.
“She knew who she was, she didn’t apologize, and if people criticized her for it, she didn’t care,” said art historian Kate Lemay. “She remained who she was, and was powerful enough to get away with it.”
Lemay curated the “Marlene Dietrich: Dressed for the Image” exhibit for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibit includes photos of Dietrich throughout her life.
‘This is a very forward-thinking young woman’
Maria Magdalene Dietrich was born in Berlin in 1901. As a child, she was a bright, diligent student and an accomplished violinist. She enrolled in drama school and won parts in German theatrical productions of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
In this 1918 portrait, Lemay says Dietrich may not look “flamboyantly dressed” now, but at the time, she was “making a statement.”
“That huge bow [shows] she’s confident, sure of herself,” Lemay explained. “And she’s allowing that curl on her right shoulder to fall out of the chignon — she’s demonstrating her femininity, her sensuality in a way that would have been very eye-catching to her peers at that time. This is a very forward-thinking young woman.”
On a trip to Berlin, director Josef von Sternberg met Dietrich and cast her as the female lead in “The Blue Angel.” After she completed the German version of the film, she came to the United States and starred in seven films directed by von Sternberg, including the 1930 hit “Morocco.”
Traveling in suits
Dietrich was notoriously anti-Nazi, and she spent much of her time in the U.S. and France. When Adolf Hitler asked her to return to Berlin and star in productions of the Nazi-controlled UFA movie studio, she declined.
Hitler also wanted Dietrich to be his mistress.
“I turned him down,” she said. “Maybe I should have gone to him. I might have saved the lives of 6 million Jews.”
She eventually became an American citizen in 1939. She spent the last 10 years of her life bedridden in Paris.
Dietrich’s androgynous style of dress, seen in this 1933 photo taken by Paul Cwojdzinski while Dietrich was traveling on the SS Europa, is one of her most enduring legacies.
“Dietrich could only really do this because she had the star power,” Lemay says. “When this image was wired to the French press, she was warned she would be arrested if she came to Paris wearing menswear. And she showed up in her most mannish tweed pantsuit with a long trench coat.”
‘Pure sex’
The starlet was married to Rudolf Sieber, a casting director, and the couple had one daughter. Sieber had a mistress, and Dietrich had a whole slew of lovers. She was bisexual, and romantic partners included singer Eddie Fisher, writer Mercedes de Acosta, author Erich Maria Remarque and, according to journalist Diana McLellan’s book “The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood,” the famous actress Greta Garbo.
“Women are better, but you can’t live with a woman,” Dietrich said.
Although the gorgeous Dietrich had a set of legendary legs, she was more than a pretty face. However, as she started to age, Dietrich avoided being photographed. In this 1952 image shot by Milton Greene, Lemay sees hints of what’s to come.
“She’s starting to age, and yet she still has this rocking body. She wants to preserve that sensual, glamorous image,” Lemay said. “People say [the picture] is pure sex, and I don’t see that. I see it as this introspective moment as Dietrich is starting a new career on the cabaret stage.”
After retiring from the screen, Dietrich continued performing in cabarets, eventually retiring in the 1970s and living as a virtual recluse.
When Dietrich died in 1992 at age 90, gay organizations honored her with banners, wreaths and songs, according to an article in The Washington Post. Transvestites wore Dietrich garb to her grave in Berlin.
Original story by Kristen Page-Kirby for The Washington Post’s free daily, Express.
