Video: 50 years of fame and 20 years of loneliness: Why Marlene Dietrich became a recluse in her declining years
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
December 27 marks the 117th anniversary of the birth of the legend of world cinema, the famous German and American actress, style icon Marlene Dietrich. The age of the century, she became the embodiment of all the contradictions and rebellious spirit of the twentieth century. She was admired, branded, imitated, hated, worshiped. All her life she attracted attention to herself, even when she disappeared from the screens. The payment for world fame and success was 20 years of loneliness and illnesses that overcame her in her declining years …
Maria Magdalena Dietrich was born in 1901 in a suburb of Berlin into a military family. She hardly remembered her father - when she was 6 years old, he left the family, and a year later he died. And this became an incentive for her first hobby for acting - as a child, she often "played dad", trying on the images of both the head of the family and his daughter. In elementary school, Maria became interested in music, learned to play the lute and the violin, and after studying at a private boarding house in Weimar, she got a job in the orchestra at the cinema. It was then, playing during the screening of silent films, that she became interested in cinema.
Dietrich decided to go to acting school, and at the same time she worked as a dancer and singer in a cabaret. Then she began performing on stage and acting in films, although at first she got minor roles. The first success came to her after filming the movie "Blue Angel", she was offered a contract in Hollywood, and she moved to the United States. Adding two of her names - Maria Magdalena - she came up with a new one - Marlene.
After moving to the United States, the actress's image changed significantly - in Hollywood, she was made into a real goddess. In the book "Hollywood Stars" they wrote about her: "".
In Nazi Germany, they tried to persuade her to return to her homeland more than once - Goebbels even offered her 200 thousand Reichsmarks for each film made with her participation, but Dietrich did not want to become part of the Nazi propaganda machine and in 1939 she received American citizenship. In 1943, she temporarily stopped acting in films and gave concerts in the Allied forces in Italy, France and North America. In garrisons and hospitals, the actress gave about 500 performances, while, like the soldiers, she slept in the trenches and washed herself with melted snow. Such a civic position of the German actress aroused admiration, and at the end of the war she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and the American Medal of Freedom.
From the very first roles in the cinema, Marlene Dietrich was assigned the role of a fatal beauty, and no matter how she tried to get rid of him, most directors saw her in this very image. And there were grounds for this in life - the actress easily conquered the hearts of both men and women, she had a huge number of novels. Actors Jean Gabin, John Wayne, Brian Ehern, Jimmy Stewart and John Gilbert, producer Douglas Fairbanks Jr., singer Maurice Chevalier, director Joseph von Sternberg, businessman Joseph Kennedy, father of US President John F. Kennedy, went crazy with her. Erich Maria Remarque, after an affair with Marlene Dietrich, recreated her image in the novel "Arc de Triomphe".
Despite countless romances, the actress was married only once - at the age of 22 she became the wife of producer Rudolf Sieber, a year later they had a daughter, Maria. He became her first impresario, giving her the idea of a new image - a top hat, monocle and trousers, which later became her trademark. The couple lived together for only a few years, but never officially divorced - in the status of a married woman, Dietrich remained until her husband's death in 1976. Once she was asked why she left Jean Gabin, whom she loved very much. The actress replied: "". She said to one of her acquaintances: "".
In the 1950s. she has appeared in films less and less, performing as a show host and singer in Las Vegas and performing famous songs from her films. Her finest hour is behind. The last major role of Marlene Dietrich was the role of Christine in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), which was nominated for an Oscar. After that, she played in only 4 films, and these were cameo roles. By 1970, she was gradually being forgotten as an actress. In 1966 she moved to her Parisian apartment. In 1975, the artist made her last tour. And from that moment on, troubles began to haunt her. She first broke her leg during the performance and spent several months in the hospital. This was followed by a fracture of the femoral neck, which caused the actress to be bedridden. In 1976, her husband Rudolf Sieber and the man whom she loved very much, Jean Gabin, passed away. Marlene Dietrich never felt so lonely.
The payback for the incredible fame that accompanied her all her life was almost 20 years spent in complete seclusion. Marlene Dietrich spent the rest of her life in her Paris apartment, communicating with the outside world only by phone. Even the closest people, the actress forbade her to visit - she did not want anyone to witness her old age and weakness. Only daughter Maria, grandson Pierre, secretary and maid could see her. She was working on a book of memoirs, The ABC of My Life, published in 1979, and in 1982 agreed to give a long audio interview, which became the basis of the film Marlene.
For the past 13 years, the actress could not get out of bed - after an injury she refused hospitalization and medical care. During this period, she became addicted to painkillers and alcohol, which further exacerbated her condition. Due to the fact that Marlene did not appear in public and did not allow journalists to visit her, rumors about her death repeatedly arose. Once she even called the editorial office of one publication and said that this was not true. After that, the title was printed on the cover of the magazine: "". Due to lying position and alcohol abuse, Marlene Dietrich had kidney failure, which was the reason for her death in 1992. At that time she was 90 years old. There was no one with her, only a huge number of photographs of her friends …
A very tender relationship tied Marlene Dietrich and Ernest Hemingway: more than friendship, less than love.
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