Marlene Dietrich

In 1994 her memoralilia were sold to the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek (after US insitutions showed no interest) where it became the core of the FilmMuseum Berlin in the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz, Berlin. Glenda Farrell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6524 Hollywood Boulevard. de:Friedenau Cemetery. She died from lung cancer and was interred in the West Point US Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, New York. Her body, covered with an American flag, was then returned to Berlin where she was interred in the Städtischen Friedhof III, Berlin-Schöneberg, Stubenrauchstraße 43-45. She remained with the show until ill health forced her departure in November 1970. A service was conducted at La Madeline in Paris before 3,500 mourners and a crowd of well-wishers outside. She was appearing on Broadway in a production of Forty Carats in 1969 when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Dietrich died peacefully at the age of 90 in Paris, of general old-age. Farrell went out of vogue in the 1940s but made a comeback later in life, winning an Emmy Award in 1963, for her work in the television series Ben Casey. It is true that she quipped that she would return only when one of her Jewish friends (possibly Max Reinhardt) could accompany her. In this role Farrell was promoted as being able to speak 400 words in 40 seconds. Despite all of this, she was reportedly offered a king's ransom to return to Germany, due to her immense popularity as well as Hitler's ardour, which she declined. She became one of Warner Brothers most prolific actresses of the 1930s, solidifying her success with her own film series, as Torchy Blane "Girl Reporter". When Maria gave birth to a son in 1948, Dietrich was dubbed "the world's most glamorous grandmother." Although they never married, the great love of her life was the French actor and military hero, Jean Gabin. Her brassy persona was used to great effect in Little Caesar (1930) opposite James Cagney, in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) opposite Paul Muni, in Havana Widows (1933) with Blondell, and in Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) opposite Fay Wray.

13, 1924. Signed to Warner Brothers, she came to personify the wise-cracking, hard-boiled, and somewhat dizzy blonde of the early talkies, along with fellow Warner Brothers contractee Joan Blondell, with whom she would be frequently paired. Her only child, Maria, was born on Dec. Born in Enid, Oklahoma, Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era, after establishing herself on Broadway. She married once, to director's assistant (and later director at Paramount Pictures, France) Rudolf Sieber. Glenda Farrell (June 30, 1904 – May 1, 1971) was an American film actress. Unlike her professional celebrity, which was carefully crafted and maintained, Dietrich's personal life was kept out of public view.

Her public image and some of her movies included strong sexual undertones, including bisexuality. Accordingly, it is no surprise that she had affairs with women (Mercedes de Acosta was among her lesbian lovers) as well as men. Dietrich was a fashion icon to the top designers as well as a screen icon whom later stars would follow. She is also famous for having recorded Lili Marleen during World War II, a curious example of a song transcending the hatreds of war. Dietrich became an American citizen in 1937, raised a record number of War Bonds and entertained American troops during the Second World War.

Her singing helped here too, as she recorded a number of anti-Nazi records in German for the OSS. She sang for the Allied troops on the front lines in Algiers, Fance and into Germany with Generals Gavin & Patton. She was a staunch anti-Nazi who despised Germany's anti-semitic policies of the time. Dietrich was known to have a strong set of political convictions and a mind to speak them.

Madeline Kahn did the same in the Mel Brooks film "Blazing Saddles". Her distinctive voice was later satirized, by Lotte Lenya, in the song Lieder by cult British trio Fascinating Aïda. She spent the last twelve years bed-ridden, in seclusion in her apartment in Paris. Her show business career largely ended, however, in 1974, when she broke her leg during a stage performance.

Spectacular costumes (by Jean Louis) and careful stage lighting helped to preserve Dietrich's glamorous image well into old age. His arrangements helped to disguise Dietrich's limited vocal range and allowed her to perform her songs to maximum dramatic effect. Until the mid-1960s her musical director was pop composer Burt Bacharach. Her repertoire included songs from her films as well as popular songs of the day.

From the 1950s to the mid-1970s Dietrich toured internationally as a successful cabaret performer. Following a slowdown in her film career, she made a number of records first for Decca, Elektrola, EMI, and for Columbia. Dietrich sang in several of her films (most famously in von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, in which she sings "Falling In Love Again"), having made records in Germany in the 1920s. She gradually broadened her repertoire in roles such as Destry Rides Again, A Foreign Affair, Witness for the Prosecution, Touch of Evil, and Judgment at Nuremberg.

Her most lasting contribution to film history was as the star in several films directed by Josef von Sternberg in the early 1930s, such as The Scarlet Empress and Shanghai Express, in which she played "femme fatales". After playing in only German movies at first, she got her first role in the 1st European talking picture, The Blue Angel(1930; directed by Joseph von Sternberg) and then moved to Hollywood to make Morocco (for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress). Born in Schöneberg, Berlin, Dietrich played the violin before joining an acting school in 1921, making her film debut the following year. Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (December 27, 1901 - May 6, 1992) was a German actress and singer.