Marlene

by Marlene Dietrich

Overview

A fascinating self-portrait of one of the greatest entertainers of Hollywood’s golden age

Film star. Cabaret sensation. Recording artist. Writer. Marlene Dietrich was nothing short of enchanting—and remains so as she chronicles her fabulous rise to stardom in Marlene. From her early career in Germany as a chorus girl to her breakout role as Lola in The Blue Angel to her courageous wartime tours, Dietrich recounts a life that captivates on the page just as she smoldered on the screen. She writes passionately of her friends—including Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Edith Piaf, among many others—and she shares memories of what she calls her greatest accomplishment: entertaining the Allied troops during World War II. A sustained expression of her bold, sophisticated style, Marlene reminds us why Dietrich remains an international icon and a true Hollywood legend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813195995
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	08/16/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	234
Sales rank:	1,026,774
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992) was a film actress and accomplished singer, widely considered among the greatest female stars of all time, and ranked number nine on the American Film Institute’s list of the fifty greatest American screen legends. Born in Germany in 1901, Dietrich was a classically trained violinist, but she shifted her focus to acting and singing when she injured her wrist in 1921. Her breakthrough film role in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel led to her contract with Paramount Studios and a string of Hollywood hits, including Shanghai Express. She became an American citizen and strongly supported the Allied effort during World War II; in 1947, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom for her contributions. During Dietrich’s later career, she performed almost exclusively as a cabaret artist, entertaining audiences worldwide. She died in Paris in 1992. 
Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992) was a film actress and accomplished singer, widely considered among the greatest female stars of all time, and ranked number nine on the American Film Institute’s list of the fifty greatest American screen legends. Born in Germany in 1901, Dietrich was a classically trained violinist, but she shifted her focus to acting and singing when she injured her wrist in 1921. Her breakthrough film role in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel led to her contract with Paramount Studios and a string of Hollywood hits, including Shanghai Express. She became an American citizen and strongly supported the Allied effort during World War II; in 1947, she was awarded the Medal of Freedom for her contributions. During Dietrich’s later career, she performed almost exclusively as a cabaret artist, entertaining audiences worldwide. She died in Paris in 1992. 

Table of Contents

A Brief Note
Foreword
1. A Girl From A Good Family
2. Youth
3. You Are Svengali - I am Trilby
4. Hollywood
5. Glamour Stars
6. Actors' Styles
7. Jealousy
8. Giants
9. Charlie Chaplin
10. Alfred Hitchcock
11. Raimu
12. Richard Burton
13. Sir Alexander Fleming
14. Orson Welles
15. Billy Wilder
16. Still Another Genius: Jean Gabin
17. On Friendship
18. Writers
19. Hemingway, Of Course
20. Erich Maria Remarque
21. Noel Coward - A "Loving Friendship"
22. Painters and Sculptors
23. Composers
24. Stravinsky
25. Harold Arlen
26. Artists
27. Sinatra
28. Nat King Cole
29. My Friend Piaf
30. Rudolf Nureyev
31. Elisabeth Bergner
32. After The Devil Is A Woman
33. The Garden of Allah
34. Costumes
35. Photographers
36. Changing Studios
37. Kismet
38. The War
39. A New Adventure
40. Burt Bacharach
41. Epilogue
Selected Chronology

Editorial Reviews

Attansio's translation from the German echoes the voice of the actress, famous since the 1930s as the quintessence of glamor and beauty. Yet Dietrich herself and the intimates she writes about remain obscure in the narrative, despite some deeply moving images: she makes palpable, for example, her bewildered pain as a child in Germany during the World War I, experiences that contributed to her sturdy independence. And there is enormous pathos in her recollections of platonic friendship with her beloved Hemingway and with the doomed ``sparrow,'' Edith Piaf. Dietrich writes of entertaining the allied troops during WW II, of her SRO concerts around the world and of her performances on stage and TV. She expresses admiration for Joseph von Sternberg, the director who starred her, an ``unknown,'' in the film classic The Blue Angel. But only by indirection does the memoir disclose the personhood of Dietrich, mother of Maria and wife to the late Rudolf Sieber: ``I've done my duty. I've assumed my responsibilities. That's all that counts for me.'' Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Cosmopolitan. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Dietrich takes pleasure in frequently pointing out mistakes made by her previous ``biographers'' (she always disparagingly puts the words in quotes), but while Hollywood memoirs have never been known for their accuracy, hers sets a new low standard. To give but two examples: she says (twice) that Ernst Lubitsch wrote the script for the film Desire . He didn't. She writes of starring in Rancho Notorious and then says, ``After that, I made Manpower ,'' when , in fact , Manpower was made 11 years before Rancho Notorious. Shelley Winters's Shelley: Also Known as Shirley ( LJ 5/15/80) showed that an entertaining memoir can be written even with a blithe disregard for facts, but Dietrich also fails on this count. Winters's follow-up memoir, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times , will be published this July . -- Ed. Dietrich refused to appear in the 1984 documentary Marlene; she should have refused to do an autobiography, too.-- John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.

Library Journal

The fresh burst of fascination with the star this winter comes at a moment when the treatment of women in Hollywood is at the centre of public debate, running alongside a wider social discussion about the fluidity of gender identities. As a result, Dietrich's powerful androgyny has acquired a new register: it seems a prescient challenge to the male hierarchy of the film industry and to restrictive sexual norms.

The Guardian

The name Marlene Dietrich, more than any other, blends with the essence of cinema. A number of actresses become stars, some of them become myths.

Jacques Chirac