Marlene Dietrich
Date of birth: 1901-12-27
Place of birth: Berlin, Germany
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Marlena Dietrichová , Marie Magdalene Dietrich , Marie Magdalene von Losch
Biography
Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992) was a German-American actress and singer, widely regarded as one of the most iconic figures of classic Hollywood. She rose to fame in the 1930s with films like The Blue Angel, Shanghai Express, and Destry Rides Again, captivating audiences with her sultry voice, striking beauty, and androgynous style. Known for her ability to reinvent herself, Dietrich transitioned from film star to a celebrated cabaret performer, touring internationally for decades. Beyond her career, Dietrich was known for her progressive views and unconventional lifestyle. She openly defied gender norms, often wearing men's clothing both on and off-screen, which contributed to her enigmatic persona. Her personal life has long been the subject of speculation, particularly regarding her sexuality. While she was married to Rudolf Sieber, she was rumored to have had relationships with both men and women, including actresses Claudette Colbert and Mercedes de Acosta. Some sources suggest she was part of Hollywood’s so-called “sewing circle,” a network of women engaged in same-sex relationships. However, Dietrich never publicly confirmed these rumors, maintaining an air of mystery that only added to her legendary status. Her legacy continues to inspire discussions on gender, sexuality, and Hollywood’s golden age.
Movie Credits
Shanghai Express
1932-02-12
A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-pac
Touch of Evil
1958-03-30
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police inves
Judgment at Nuremberg
1961-12-18
In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal
Stage Fright
1950-02-23
A struggling actress tries to help a friend prove his innocence when he's accused of murdering the h
Around the World in 80 Days
1956-10-17
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the wor
Paris When It Sizzles
1964-03-01
Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest
Jigsaw
1949-03-11
New York Assistant District Attorney Howard Malloy launches an investigation into a series of murder
Manpower
1941-08-09
Hank McHenry and Johnny Marshall work as power company linesmen. Hank is injured in an accident and
Manon Lescaut
1926-02-15
A French adventurer fights to save a woman in the life of prostitution.
The Scarlet Empress
1934-05-09
During the 18th century, German noblewoman Sophia Frederica, who would later become Catherine the Gr
Just a Gigolo
1978-11-16
After World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--he has no ski
Follow the Boys
1944-05-05
During World War II, all the studios put out "all-star" vehicles which featured virtually every star
Blonde Venus
1932-09-23
In an effort to be able to afford expensive treatment for her gravely ill American husband, a retire
Seven Sinners
1940-10-25
Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale
Rancho Notorious
1952-04-10
A man in search of revenge infiltrates a ranch, hidden in an inhospitable region, where its owner, A
Marlene
1984-10-01
Retrospective on the career of enigmatic screen diva Marlene Dietrich.
Morocco
1930-11-14
Mogador, Morocco. Late 1920s. A complex romance develops between a womanizing Legionnaire and a disi
The Devil Is a Woman
1935-05-03
In the carnival in Spain in the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the exiled republican Antonio Ga
Witness for the Prosecution
1957-12-17
An ailing barrister is thrust back into the courtroom in what becomes one of the most unusual and ev
The Flame of New Orleans
1941-07-07
In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing se
Kismet
1944-10-01
Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to
The Spoilers
1942-06-11
When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon sing
Destry Rides Again
1939-11-30
Tom Destry, son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the
No Highway in the Sky
1951-06-28
James Stewart plays aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey, the quintessential absent-minded professor
Becoming Cary Grant
2017-05-23
For the first time one of Hollywood's greatest stars tells his own story, in his own words. From a c
A Foreign Affair
1948-08-20
In occupied Berlin, an army captain is torn between an ex-Nazi café singer and the US congresswoman
Pittsburgh
1942-12-11
Charles 'Pittsburgh' Markham rides roughshod over his friends, his lovers, and his ideals in his tre
Normandie ne partira pas ce soir
2021-09-01
It was the world's largest, most beautiful and fastest cruise ship. Built in Saint Nazaire in 1932,
Angel
1937-10-29
While vacationing without her busy British diplomat husband, a married woman falls for another man.
The Lady Is Willing
1942-02-12
Bold, eccentric Broadway performer Elizabeth Madden befuddles her handlers by coming home with a bab
Triumph Over Violence
1965-12-31
Romm pulls out all the stops in its selection of documentary material to draw the viewer not only in
Dishonored
1931-04-04
The Austrian Secret Service sends its most seductive agent to spy on the Russians.
Desire
1936-04-11
Madeleine steals a string of pearls in Paris and uses American engineer Tom, who is driving on his v
The Song of Songs
1933-07-19
After her father dies, Lily moves to the city to live with her strict aunt. During the day Lily work
Knight Without Armour
1937-07-23
British agent working in Russia is forced to remain longer than planned once the revolution begins.
Martin Roumagnac
1946-12-18
The local building-contractor Martin Roumagnac is fascinated by the fashionable Blanche Ferrand. To
Golden Earrings
1947-08-27
A British colonel escapes from the Gestapo to the Black Forest and poses as a Gypsy's mate.
The Woman One Longs For
1929-04-29
After a chance meeting at a train station, Henry and Stascha, unhappy with their circumstances, are
The Garden of Allah
1936-10-14
The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.
The Monte Carlo Story
1956-12-19
Stylish, sophisticated and absolutely broke, Dino and Maria pursue a romance until they realize neit
I Wish You Love
1973-08-19
Taped on two nights in a London theatre, I Wish You Love is a live concert with Marlene Dietrich per
Marlene Dietrich, “The Blue Angel” Screen Test
1930-12-31
Marlene Dietrich's screen tests for the classic 1930 German film The Blue Angel directed by Josef vo
Cafe Electric
1927-11-25
The daughter of a wealthy industrialist falls for a pickpocket.
I Kiss Your Hand, Madame
1929-01-16
Laurence Gerard has just divorced. While leading fat lover Talandier by the nose, She meets the coun
The Ship of Lost Men
1929-09-17
A young doctor gets stuck on a ship after treating an injured first mate. Later, he rescues a woman
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
2004-02-03
Until 1932's Grand Hotel, never had there existed an all-star ensemble cast on film. Conceived by MG
A Modern Dubarry
1927-01-24
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984-01-01
Robert Preston hosts this documentary that shows what people of the 1930s were watching as they were
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
2013-01-29
Uncensored. Laugh along with Hollywood's brightest stars in this hilarious compilation of bloopers f
Hitchcock and 'Stage Fright'
2004-09-07
Documentary about film.
The Great Yiddish Love
2002-01-01
Set in Berlin and New York's Lower East Side, The Great Yiddish Love stars the self-exiled Marlene D
Coisa Mais Linda - Histórias e Casos da Bossa Nova
2005-01-01
Documentary about the birth of bossa-nova, in Brazil, and the major stars of this musical style.
Black Fox: The Rise and Fall of Adolf Hitler
1962-08-25
The rise and fall of Nazi Germany in part through the use of classical allegory.
Bodies and Spaces, Fabric and Light
2018-07-03
This visual essay focuses on the visual style and composition of the Hollywood films made together b
The Fashion Side of Hollywood
1935-11-04
Compilation of lighting and costume tests from various films, most notably Sternberg's "The Devil Is
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song
2002-03-21
The films, affairs and struggles of the iconic star of The Blue Angel as told by Rosemary Clooney, R
That's Entertainment! III
1994-07-01
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929
No Angel: A Life of Marlene Dietrich
1996-07-24
Biography of Marlene Dietrich using interviews, film clips and rare footage of the actress, includin
His Greatest Bluff
1927-05-04
His Greatest Bluff is a German silent comedy film. Today, the film is best known for the early role
Dangers of the Engagement
1930-02-21
A man unknowingly falls madly in love with the fiancé of a close friend who has twice saved his life
Show-Business at War
1943-05-21
A multi-studio effort to show the newsreel audience the progress of the Hollywood war effort.
The Imaginary Baron
1927-03-04
The film follows the comic (mis)adventures of a poor street musician, who is roped into posing as an
Leap Into Life
1924-04-01
A young intellectual falls in love with a circus performer and decides to cultivate her into a lady
Man by the Roadside
1923-06-11
A shoemaker and his wife become the parents of a little girl, but they cannot find anyone willing to
Complicated Women
2003-05-06
Looks at the stereotype-breaking films of the period from 1929, when movies entered the sound era, u
The Countess of Paris
1923-10-12
The Tragedy of Love
1923-09-21
The husband of Countess Manon Moreau is found murdered. André Rabatin, who belongs to the same club
Heads Up, Charley
1927-03-18
Heads Up, Charley is a 1927 German silent comedy film directed by Willi Wolff and starring Ellen Ric
Memo for Joe
1944-08-10
Documentary short film extolling the virtues of the American Community Chest charity program and its
The Film Parade
1933-01-01
Pioneer filmmaker J. Stuart Blackton was intrigued by the idea of a film about the history of the mo
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
2007-05-23
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well
The Blue Angel
1930-04-01
Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola
Im Schatten des Glücks
1919-01-01
This silent German drama contained the screen debut of the legendary Marlene Dietrich in a small rol
Her Dancing Partner
1925-11-06
Art of Love
1928-09-05
100 Years of the UFA
2017-08-28
The intricate history of UFA, a film production company founded in 1917 that has survived the Weimar
Nylon Blues: A History of the Nylon Stocking
1991-01-01
Events of strange and serious nature mark the invention and the manufacture of the nylon stockings.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff
2010-05-05
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Acad
The Meeting of Two Queens
1991-03-19
Cecilia Barriga’s culty video montage tells the story of two queens who fall in love, unwittingly pl
Breakdowns of 1942
1942-12-31
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942.
Maria Callas: The Final Act
2024-12-29
In this new film from Arena, a cast of musical experts and admirers uncover the truth about the Mari
Beautiful Like a Poem
2020-05-11
I have a lot of interest and respect for classic cinema. I tried to make a film with at least 20 por
Erich Maria Remarque und Marlene Dietrich - Flucht in die Liebe
2025-09-08
In his second international bestseller, "Arc de Triomphe," author Erich Maria Remarque explores his
Rediscovering John Gilbert
2010-01-10
This documentary features an on-camera interview with John Gilbert's daughter and biographer, Leatri
Mythos Côte d'Azur - Liebe, Luxus, Leidenschaft
2021-11-25