You Must Remember This 32: Star Wars Episode VI: Marlene Dietrich
Feb 10, 2015
A deep dive into Marlene Dietrich's transformation from Weimar violin student to Hollywood androgynous glamour icon. Tales of wartime courage, USO frontline tours, and secretive intelligence and propaganda work. Postwar disorientation, financial ruin, and a fraught attempt at cinematic reinvention round out her complicated life.
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Sternberg's Discovery And Star Transformation
- Marlene Dietrich reinvented herself from a German violin prodigy to a Hollywood star after Joseph von Sternberg discovered her in a minor stage role.
- Sternberg coached her image and lighting, transforming her into the androgynous glamour icon seen in Morocco and Dishonored.
Glamour And Ambiguity Became Her Weapon
- Dietrich's screen persona combined sexual ambiguity with relentless glamour, which she maintained on and off screen as a strategic identity.
- Examples include wearing a tuxedo and kissing a woman in Morocco and fixing lipstick before a firing squad in Dishonored.
The Never Executed Plot Against Hitler
- Dietrich plotted fantastical plans to undermine Nazis, including a scheme to seduce and kill Hitler after securing U.S. citizenship.
- The plan failed on practical grounds and concern for family stuck in Germany; she ultimately became a U.S. citizen in 1939.