Marlene Dietrich

On December 13, 1924, her only daughter Maria Elisabeth Sieber was born.

She died on May 7, 1992 in Paris due to renal failure at 90 and was buried at Roman Catholic Church, ‘La Madeleine’.

Marie Magdalene Dietrich was born to Wilhelmina Elisabeth Josephine and Louis Erich Otto Dietrich as their youngest daughter on December 27, 1901. Her birthplace was Leberstrasse 65 in Schöneberg district, Berlin, Germany.

Her father who died in 1907 was a police lieutenant and mother belonged to a family of jewellers and clock-makers in Berlin. After her father’s death, her mother Wilhelmina Elisabeth courted Eduard von Losch, a first lieutenant of Grenadiers and eventually married him in 1916.

At 11 she adopted the name Marlene, bridging her first two names. From 1907 to 1917 she studied in Auguste-Viktoria Girls' School and completed graduation in 1918 from ‘Victoria-Luise-Schule’. She studied English and French.

She learnt violin and was inclined into poetry and theatre in her teens. Later, due to wrist injury she gave up the aspiration of becoming a concert violinist and treaded towards acting.

Her first job in 1922 as a pit orchestra violinist lasted for four weeks. Marlene Dietrich worked with Gudio Thielscher in ‘Girl-Kabarett’ as chorus girl and in revues of Rudolf Nelson in Berlin. She failed audition in drama academy of Max Reinhardt but eventually worked as a chorus girl in his theatres enacting trivial roles.

In 1923 she made her debut in films playing a small part in ‘The Little Nepolean’. She worked in ‘Tragodie der Liebe’ with Rudolf Sieber, her future husband.

During 1920s, she performed in Vienna and Berlin, both on stage and films. Her remarkable stage shows include William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’, George Bernard Shaw's ‘Back to Methuselah’ and musicals like ‘Broadway’.

Marlene played a leading part in the film ‘Die Frau, Nach Der Man Sich Sehnt ’ for the first time in 1929. Her real breakthrough came with the film ‘The Blue Angel’ in a role of a sensual cabaret dancer Lola-Lola.

In April 2, 1930 she departed for the US and signed with ‘Paramount Pictures’. In November 14 her first American film ‘Morocco’ released.

Her breakthrough film was ‘The Blue Angel’ in a role of a sensual cabaret dancer Lola-Lola where her signature song ‘Falling in Love Again’ was introduced.

In 1932, Marlene Dietrich starrer ‘Sanghai Express’ was a huge box office success fetching highest collections of the year.