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00:00Women who change the world.
00:30Women who change the world.
00:32Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him, they do not
00:36like him.
00:37Marlene Dietrich.
00:39Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich was born Maria Magdalene Dietrich on December 27,
00:441901 in Berlin, Germany.
00:47One of the most glamorous leading ladies of the 1930s and 1940s, Marlene Dietrich is remembered
00:52for her smoldering sex appeal, distinctive voice, and unusual personal style.
00:58Her police officer father died when she was young, and her mother later married Edward
01:03von Loesch, a Calvary officer.
01:05Growing up, Dietrich studied French and English at her private school.
01:09She also took violin lessons with the hopes of becoming a professional violinist.
01:14While in her late teens, Dietrich gave up music to explore acting.
01:18She attended Max Reinhardt's drama school, and soon started to land small parts on stage
01:23and in German films.
01:25Because of her family's disapproval of her career choice, Dietrich chose to use a combination
01:29of her first and middle name professionally.
01:32Dietrich's career in Germany began to take off in the late 1920s.
01:37Making film history, she was cast in Germany's first talking picture, Der Blau Engel 1930,
01:43by Hollywood director Joseph von Sternberg.
01:46In April 1930, shortly after the premiere of Der Blau Engel in Berlin, Dietrich moved to
01:52America.
01:53Again, working with von Sternberg, Dietrich starred in Morocco 1930 with Gary Cooper.
01:59She played Amy Jolly, a lounge singer who gets entangled in a love triangle with a member
02:04of the Foreign Legion and a wealthy playboy.
02:07For her work on the film, Dietrich received her one and only Academy Award nomination.
02:12Going to play the femme fatale, Dietrich challenged accepted notions of femininity.
02:17She often wore pants and more masculine fashions on and off screen, which added to her unique
02:22allure and created new trends.
02:25Around this time, Dietrich also made several films with John Wayne, including Seven Sinners
02:30, The Spoilers , and Pittsburgh .
02:36The two were said to have had a romantic relationship, which later turned into a strong friendship.
02:41In 1923, Dietrich married Rudolf Sieber, a film professional who helped her land a part
02:47in Tragedy of Love .
02:50The couple welcomed their only child, Maria, the following year.
02:54They later separated, but never divorced.
02:56In her personal life, Dietrich was a strong opponent of the Nazi government in Germany.
03:01She had been asked to return to Germany by people associated with Adolf Hitler in the
03:05late 1930s to make films there, but she turned them down.
03:09As a result, her films were banned in her native land.
03:13She made her new country her official home by becoming a U.S. citizen in 1939.
03:18During World War II, Dietrich traveled extensively to entertain the Allied troops, singing such songs
03:24as Lily Marlene and others that would later become staples in her cabaret act.
03:29She also worked on a war bond drive and recorded anti-Nazi messages in German for broadcast.
03:35After the war, Dietrich made several more successful films.
03:39Two films directed by Billy Wilder, A Foreign Affair, and Witness for the Prosecution.
03:43She also turned in two strong supporting performances in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil 1958 and Judgment
03:50at Nuremberg 1961.
03:53As her film career faded, Dietrich began a thriving singing career in the mid-1950s.
03:58She performed her act around the world, from Las Vegas to Paris, to the delight of her fans.
04:03In 1960, Dietrich performed in Germany, her first visit there since before the war.
04:09She encountered some opposition to her return, but she received a warm reception overall.
04:13That same year, her autobiography, Dietrich's ABC, was published.
04:18By the mid-1970s, Dietrich had given up performing.
04:22She moved to Paris, where she lived out the remainder of her life in near seclusion.
04:26In the mid-1980s, she did provide some audio commentary for Maximilian Schell's documentary
04:31film on her, Marlene, 1984, but she refused to appear on camera.
04:37Dietrich died on May 6, 1992, in her Paris home.
04:41After her funeral, she was buried next to her mother in Berlin.
04:45Dietrich was survived by her daughter Maria and her four grandchildren.
04:49Her daughter later wrote her own biography of her famous mother.
04:56The woman who changed the world.
04:57The woman who changed the world.
04:58The woman who changed the world.
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