Marlene Dietrich 1901 – 1992

Biography

Marlene Dietrich was a German-born American actress and singer whose smoky voice, glamour and defiance made her one of the great screen icons of the twentieth century. Born in Berlin, she trained as a violinist before turning to the stage and silent films, and rose to international fame in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel in 1930. She followed Sternberg to Hollywood, starring in Morocco, Shanghai Express and The Scarlet Empress, and became one of the highest-paid actresses of her day. When the Nazi regime courted her, she refused its offers, became an American citizen, and spent the Second World War entertaining Allied troops at the front, work for which she received the Medal of Freedom. After the war her film roles grew rarer, but she reinvented herself as a celebrated cabaret performer. She spent her final years in seclusion in Paris, and after her death in 1992 she was buried in Berlin, near her family.