Marlene dietrich the life
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Marlene Dietrich: The Life
By Maria Riva
"Gossipy, elaborately detailed, and greatly entertaining. Riva leaves no sequin unturned."—The New York Times
"Riva has a remarkable good eye. [Her book] completes the portrait of Marlene Dietrich."—The Baltimore Sun
"Entertaining. The Dietrich image remains fabulous."—The Independent, London
"Dietrich has remained, in the public mind, an alluring legend. What remains when the myth is stripped away? Dietrich wanted her daughter to write her biography. [It is] the only biography to rely on her diaries and letters."—People
The 25th anniversary edition of the landmark biography that tells the full-scale, riveting, and untold story of Marlene Dietrich.
Wildly entertaining, Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother in vivid detail, evoking Dietrich the woman, her legendary career, and her world. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Berlin, we meet an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious ung actress, whose own mother
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Publisher Description
With intimate detail, author Maria Riva reveals the rich life of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, the charismatic star of stage and screen whose career spanned much of the twentieth century. Opening with Dietrich's childhood in Schöneberg, Riva's biography introduces us to an energetic, disciplined, and ambitious young actress whose own mother equated show business with a world of vagabonds and thieves.
Dietrich would quickly rise to stardom on the Berlin stage in the s with her sharp wit and bisexual mystique, and wearing the top hat and tails that revolutionized our concept of beauty and femininity. She comes alive in these pages in all her incarnations: muse, collaborator, bona fide movie star, box-office poison, lover, wife, and mother.
During World War II, Dietrich would stand up to the Nazis and galvanize American troops, eventually earning the Congressional Medal of Freedom. There were her artistic relationships with Josef von Sternberg (The
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One of the most popular film and music stars of the s and s, Marlene Dietrich was known for her fashionable style and diverse portrayals of women. She was a firm advocate for the American war effort, contributing much of her time, energy and musical talents to aid the troops.
Marie Magdalene “Marlene” Dietrich was born on December 27, in Berlin, Germany. In her youth, her family’s nickname for her was “Lena”. When she was a small child, her father, Louis Otto Dietrich, a former military officer turned imperial police lieutenant died, leaving her mother a widow with two small children. A few years later, Dietrich’s mother married her husband’s best friend Eduard von Losch. He was killed in World War I.
Dietrich was raised in a middle-class family in Germany. Before entering school, Dietrich and her older sister, Liesel, were tutored at home, learning French, English, ballet, violin, and piano. The two sisters attended the Augusta Victoria School for Girls and continued to have pri