Dietrich Marlene: biography, personal life, films and songs

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Marlene Dietrich is a legendary German and Hollywood actress. With her external data, expressive voice, acting talent, this woman conquered the world. You will learn about her life path and artistic career from this article.

Origin

Dietrich Marlene was born on December 27, 1901, in Schöneberg, Germany. Her father, Louis Erlich Otto Dietrich, was a military man; at the time of the birth of Mary Magdalene (this is the real name of the actress), he served as a police lieutenant. The mother of the future celebrity - Wilhelmina Josefina Felzing - was brought up in a we althy family of watchmakers. Marrying the charming and handsome, but not rich Otto in 1898, she made a misalliance that shocked all her relatives. However, no woman could resist Marlene's father. First, the couple had an eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and a year later, the youngest, Marie, a future Hollywood legend.

Childhood

The actress did not remember her father. Otto Dietrich died when Mary Magdalene was only six years old. A year before his death, the man left his family. The girl lived with her mother andsister very modestly. Josephine was a very strict mother, she never forgot or forgave anything. The woman in her family had the nickname "dragon". However, mobile, cheerful and flirtatious Marie was difficult to train. To tame her daughter's stubborn temper, in 1907 Josefina sent Dietrich to a girls' boarding school in Weimar. There, the future actress was instilled with perseverance, hard work and thoroughness. However, this did not change the romantic nature of the young Marie. On the contrary, she came up with a new, more sonorous name, Dietrich Marlene, and was determined to make a stage career.

Career development

In 1921, Marlene tried to become a violin student at the Berlin Higher School of Music. However, despite the excellent recommendations of the music teacher, Professor Reitz, she failed the entrance exams. This did not cool the ardor of the future celebrity. Marlene Dietrich, whose biography is described in this article, decided to become an actress. She took vocal lessons, and everyone noted that she had a beautiful voice. The girl worked in Nelson Rudolph's cabaret, where she sang in a revue and danced.

With her usual perseverance, Marlene made her way into the world of big theater and cinema. In 1922, Dietrich failed to enter the acting school of Reinhardt Max at the German Theatre. Then the girl went to Valleti Rosa, a famous cabaret actress. She, impressed by Dietrich's vocal abilities, sent her to Reinhardt's administrator, and Marlene was taken to acting school. In parallel with her studies, the girl begins to playperformances. The indefatigable Dietrich Marlene could play five roles in different theaters in Berlin in an evening. She did not forget about the cinema and constantly went to auditions. True, she has not yet been offered big roles.

Highest hour

In 1928, the first record was released with songs performed by Marlene. And a year later, a great event happened in the fate of a talented actress - director Joseph von Sternberg noticed her and invited her to his film "The Blue Angel" for the role of singer Lola-Lola. This film shaped the personality of Dietrich, made her the way she is remembered and loved by numerous fans. Sternberg created for Marlene a provocative and attractive image of an insidious seductress. He came up with costumes, makeup, picked up the lighting and scenery, in which the artist looked like a diamond in an expensive setting. The Blue Angel has become a cinematic icon that awakens desires and dreams in the audience, and Dietrich Marlene has become the greatest German actress.

Hollywood career

The successful "Blue Angel" caught the attention of American filmmakers. In 1930, in February, Marlene signed a contract with Paramount Pictures and left to conquer Hollywood. Together with Sternberg, from 1931 to 1935, the actress shot six films in America that forever inscribed her name in the history of world cinema: Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, Bloody Empress and The Devil - this is a woman". In all these films, the director masterfully emphasized the masculine principle.artistes. The top hat and tailcoat, in which Dietrich appeared on the screen in her first Hollywood film "Morocco", made a revolution in the public consciousness and the fashion industry of that time. After the creative alliance with Sternberg ceased to exist, Marlene continued to act actively. However, her attempts to move away from her usual image were negatively perceived by critics.

War years

Marlene Dietrich, whose films never cease to amaze and fascinate viewers, flatly refused to work in National Socialist Germany. In response to the tempting offers of Minister Joseph Goebbels, the actress in 1939 issued American citizenship. During the war, Marlene left her creative career for a while and performed for three years with concerts in the allied forces in France, Italy and North Africa. Living conditions on the campaigns were very difficult. The actress had to change her bright outfits for a military uniform, sometimes she had to wash her head with melted snow, but such trifles could not stop a purposeful woman. Marlene Dietrich, whose songs inspired and entertained the fighters at the front, was an incomparable, incredible, magnificent goddess who descended from the Hollywood Olympus to support ordinary soldiers. During the years of hostilities, Dietrich took part in about five hundred performances. For courage and steadfastness shown during the war years, Marlene was awarded in France the Orders of the Officer of the Legion of Honor and the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. In America, the actress was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Sorry,in Germany, the military exploits of the actress reacted negatively. In a devastated country, Marlene Dietrich was considered a traitor who went over to the side of the enemy.

Private life

There are many legends about the personal life of the great actress. She is credited with having affairs with the most famous men and women of her time. However, we will try to stick to the facts. On May 17, 1923, Marlene married Sieber Rudolph, a film production administrator. The actress met him while working on the film "The Tragedy of Love." In 1924, a girl was born to the couple. Happy parents named her Mary. In 1925, when the baby grew up a little, Dietrich returned to work again. However, the marriage of the great actress quickly cracked. Rudolf started an affair on the side. In response to this, the actress acted wisely: she did not destroy the marital ties, but ended all personal relationships with her husband. From now on, Marlene and Rudy (as the artist affectionately called her husband) became just close friends, trusting each other with all heart secrets. After that, the woman had many novels. It is known that the famous Remarque and Marlene Dietrich were connected by a long relationship that lasted until the death of the writer in 1970. The biggest love of the actress was Jean Gabin, after parting with whom the actress could not recover for a long time. Over the years, the lovers of this fatal woman were: Orson Welles, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach. Photos of Marlene Dietrich clearly demonstrate the mysterious charm and visual appeal of the greatactresses. Even at the age of sixty, she managed to impress men with her unfading youth and beauty.

Last period of life

In Sydney, in 1975, Marlene Dietrich was seriously injured in an accident. She had to leave her acting career. A year later, Rudolf Sieber died of cancer. Marlene's last film work was an episodic role in the film Beautiful Gigolo - Poor Gigolo with Bowie David in 1978. After that, the actress left the cinema forever and retired to her apartment in Paris, where she was bedridden for eleven years. From now on, she communicated with the outside world only by phone. Shortly before her death, a serious blow overtook Marlene Dietrich. Daughter Maria published scandalous memories of her famous mother. Later, researchers easily proved that most of the facts described in the book are pure fiction, but the actress did not live to this day. She died in 1992, on May 6, from a long illness. The body of Marlene Dietrich rests in the Berlin cemetery next to the grave of her mother.