History Creator / MarleneDietrich

* ReferencedBy: WebVideo/KarolinaZebrowska mentions Marlene Dietrich being glorious in ''Film/{{Dishonored}}'' in her "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob6kDa3hFfA *she was a skater girl* aka I made a 17th century Dutch winter outfit]]" video.
** Lili von Schtupp in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' is Creator/MadelineKahn doing a silly version of Dietrich's caberet act in the Old West.

Born in Schöneberg, UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, she started out in vaudeville and theater, then moved to silent films. The transition to sound coincided with her move to Hollywood in 1930; she became a U.S. citizen in 1939. An anti-UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}}, Dietrich performed for the American troops on the front lines of the European theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. She also played a major part in helping many refugee artists from UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} (Jewish and otherwise) who wanted to emigrate to Hollywood.

Born in Schöneberg, UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, she started out in vaudeville and theater, then moved to silent films. The transition to sound coincided with her move to Hollywood in 1930; she became a U.S. citizen in 1939. An anti-UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}}, Dietrich performed for the American troops on the front lines of the European theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. She also played a major part in helping many refugees in Europe emigrate to Hollywood.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Marlene_Dietrich_4856.jpg]]

* {{Bifauxnen}} / WholesomeCrossdresser: An early and iconic example for cinema.

* MisattributedSong: [[invoked]] The song "Lili Marlene" is often misattributed as dedicated to her, the similarity of her name and the fact that she did reprise it with great success don't help, and she is often believed to be the first who sang it. The song was actually written in 1915 during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI by a conscripted German school teacher who combined the nickname of his friend's girlfriend, Lili, with the name of another friend, Marlene, who was a nurse. The song was first performed by Lale Andersen in 1938 and became a smash hit in 1941 once Radio Belgrade started broadcasting it for the troops of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, and that success echoed even among the Allied soldiers who listened to German radio broadcasts, hence Dietrich's reprise to cash in on its success in 1943.

* MisattributedSong: [[invoked]] The song "Lili Marlene" is often misattributed as dedicated to her, the similarity of her name and the fact that she did reprise it with great success don't help, and she is often believed to be the first who sang it. The song was actually written in 1915 during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI by a conscripted German school teacher who combined the nickname of his friend's girlfriend, Lili, with the name of another friend, Marlene, who was a nurse. The song was first performed by Lale Andersen in 1938 and became a smash hit in 1941 once Radio Belgrade started broadcasting it for the troops of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (which Dietrich left for good), and that success echoed even among the Allies who listened to German radio broadcasts, hence Dietrich's reprise to cash in on its success in 1943.

* MisattributedSong: [[invoked]] The song "Lili Marlene" is often misattributed as dedicated to her, the similarity of her name and the fact that she did reprise it with great success don't help, and she is often believed to be the first who sang it. The song was actually written in 1915 by a conscripted German school teacher who combined the nickname of his friend's girlfriend, Lili, with the name of another friend, Marlene, who was a nurse. The song was first performed by Lale Andersen in 1938 and became a smash hit in 1941 once Radio Belgrade started broadcasting it for the troops of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (which Dietrich left for good), and that success echoed even among the Allies who listened to German radio broadcasts, hence Dietrich's reprise to cash in on its success in 1943.

Born in Schöneberg, UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}, she started out in vaudeville and theater, then moved to silent films. The transition to sound coincided with her move to Hollywood in 1930; she became a U.S. citizen in 1939. An anti-Nazi, Dietrich performed for the American troops on the front lines of the European theater of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. She also played a major part in helping many refugees in Europe emigrate to Hollywood.

As an actor, she is known for her sultry, somewhat stoic style of acting. She also famously crossdressed in many of her roles, usually cabaret scenes. She's most famous for her many collaborations with director Creator/JosefVonSternberg.

->''"She is brave, beautiful, loyal, kind and generous. She is never boring and is as lovely looking in the morning in a G.I. shirt, pants and combat boots as she is at night or on the screen. She has an honesty and a comic and tragic sense of life that never let her be happy unless she loves... If she had nothing more than her voice she could break your heart with it. But she has that beautiful body and the timeless loveliness of her face. It makes no difference how she breaks your heart if she is there to mend it."''
-->-- '''Creator/ErnestHemingway'''

-->''Where have all the flowers gone?''

* GlamorousWartimeSinger: She became one during World War 2, touring a lot for the Allies in Western Europe from late 1944 to spring 1945.

* OddFriendship: She had one with ''Creator/ErnestHemingway'', of all people, [[TheCasanova and unlike most of his interactions with women]], it never went further than that. She was even okay with him calling her "kraut", a generally offensive slur against Germans.

* SpeechImpededLoveInterest: She was a beauty who had many admirers; she also [[ElmuhFuddSyndwome pronounced her r's as w's]], a trait she shared with another great actor of that time, Creator/KayFrancis, and which was often seen as part of her charm.
* SpeechImpediment: See SpeechImpededLoveInterest.

* MisattributedSong: [[invoked]] The song "Lili Marlene" is often misattributed as dedicated to her, the similarity of her name and the fact that she did reprise it with great success don't help, and she is often believed to be the first who sang it. The song was actually written in 1915 by a conscripted German school teacher who combined the nickname of his friend's girlfriend, Lili, with the name of another friend, Marlene, who was a nurse. The song was first performed by Lale Andersen and became a smash hit in 1941 once Radio Belgrade started broadcasting it for the troops of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (which Dietrich left for good), and that success echoed even among the Allies who listened to German radio broadcasts, hence Dietrich's reprise to cash in on its success.

* ShesGotLegs: She had a knack for showing off her shapely legs in her films. ''Film/WitnessForTheProsecution'' had a scene in which she, despite wearing her signature masculine clothes, ends up getting one of the legs of her pants ripped, which was written specifically for {{Fanservice}}. Even in her very last film, ''Just a Gigolo'', in 1978 (at which point she was 76), her dress [[https://c8.alamy.com/compes/bkgg23/solo-un-gigolo-1978-marlene-dietrich-jagg-001cp-bkgg23.jpg still had a slit showing some thigh]].

* [[invoked]]MisattributedSong: The song "Lili Marlene" is often misattributed as dedicated to her, the similarity of her name and the fact that she did reprise it with great success don't help, and she is often believed to be the first who sang it. The song was actually written in 1915 by a conscripted German school teacher who combined the nickname of his friend's girlfriend, Lili, with the name of another friend, Marlene, who was a nurse. The song was first performed by Lale Andersen and became a smash hit in 1941 once Radio Belgrade started broadcasting it for the troops of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany (which Dietrich left for good), and that success echoed even among the Allies who listened to German radio broadcasts, hence Dietrich's reprise to cash in on its success.