Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)
"Dietrich" was not a real person at all, but a lifelong work of art cultivated by one Maria Magdalena Dietrich, born in Berlin in December, 1901, and maintained right up until her death in May, 1992. Admire not the person she was, but the illusion she created. - Tricia Richter
Like many twentieth-century legends of the silver screen, it is difficult to separate the woman – Marlene Dietrich – from the legend. Even her real birthday went unknown for many years because she had led people to believe that she was three years younger than she actually was. Dietrich grew up playing the violin in a conservative, middle-class German military family that emphasized the importance of service, duty, and responsibility. She decided to take to the theatres in her teens. After failing an audition the year earlier, was was accepted into max Reinhardt’s drama school in 1922 and worked her way from the German cabaret to major Hollywood stardom.
Dietrich appeared in her first Hollywood film Morocco in 1930 and worked on six more films with director Josef von Sternberg over the next five years. Von Sternberg played a major role in her early Hollywood career, helping her develop her sensuous, celebrity persona. However, going to Hollywood meant that she was leaving a husband and daughter behind.