Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

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Marie Magdalene Dietrich was born in 1901 in Berlin-Schöneberg at Sedanstraße 53 (now Leberstraße 65). At the age of eleven, she decided to call herself “Marlene.” In the 1920s, she moved in Berlin’s liberal scene and frequented legendary Berlin nightlife clubs such as the Eldorado and the Toppkeller. After completing her musical training at the Academy of Music, she turned to acting.

Dietrich made her international breakthrough in 1930 with the role of Lola Lola in the film The Blue Angel. Her lascivious and ironic rendition of the chanson “Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt” (in English, “Falling in Love Again”) made her a sensation. In the same year, she signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in Hollywood.

Her first US film, Morocco, contained a scene unprecedented in mainstream cinema at the time: wearing a tuxedo, she kissed a female audience member—an early portrayal of female homoeroticism. The role earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In Blonde Venus (1932), she dressed herself in a top hat, tailcoat, and walking stick as a femme fatale who coquettishly touched revue girls.

Dietrich lived her femininity differently than most women of her time. In 1923, she married Rudolf Sieber, and in 1924, their daughter Maria was born. The couple had an open relationship – both knew each other’s lovers and discussed them openly. Despite her marriage, she lived openly as a bisexual. Her partners included the Berlin chansonette Claire Waldoff, the writer Mercedes de Acosta, with whom she exchanged passionate letters, and the actress Anna May Wong, with whom she developed a subtle lesbian chemistry in the film Shanghai Express (1932). At the same time, she had relationships with male stars such as Jean Gabin, John Wayne, and James Stewart—the latter fathered a child with her, but Dietrich had an abortion without informing him.

She was part of the “Sewing Circle,” a network of lesbian and bisexual Hollywood stars such as Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn. The name – presumably invented by Dietrich – parodied bourgeois sewing circles, while the group discussed intimate relationships and career strategies. It was a safe space in the film business, which was dominated by the censorship of the Hays Code, which prohibited any depiction of non-heterosexual relationships.

Dietrich’s legendary tuxedo appearances revolutionized women’s fashion. Although trousers were no longer a rarity in 1920s Berlin, Dietrich made “Marlene trousers” internationally popular – for example, in Paris in 1933, where women were prohibited by police from wearing trousers. “I dress for the image I have of myself,” she said, interpreting masculinity as an expression of female self-determination. Her stage outfits deliberately alternated between glittery dresses and men’s suits in order to subvert binary gender norms.

When the Nazi regime made her lucrative film offers, she refused and instead supported exiles financially. In 1939, she became a US citizen and from 1943 onwards performed for Allied soldiers at the front. She publicly condemned the persecution of homosexuals: “Hitler hates everything that thinks freely – just like me.” In 1947, she received the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, while in post-war Germany she was often defamed as a “traitor.”

From the 1950s onwards, Dietrich enjoyed success as a singer on international stages. Her most famous songs include “ “Falling in Love Again”, “Lili Marleen” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.

In the 1970s, Marlene Dietrich withdrew from public life. Between 1977 and her death in 1992, she is said to have hardly left her Paris apartment.

Her legacy lives on: in Marlene-style drag shows, iconic film appearances, and feminist and queer theory. Her statement “Sexuality is not a switch you can flip” inspired thinkers such as Judith Butler and Audre Lorde. The queer movement continues to honor her today as a courageous pioneer for visibility and freedom beyond labels.

Marlene Dietrich died on May 6, 1992, in Paris. Her grave in the Friedenau cemetery is maintained as a Berlin honorary grave. A memorial plaque can be found at her birthplace on Leberstraße. The city honors its famous daughter with Marlene-Dietrich-Platz, where a memorial plaque has been located since 2000 in the center of the Berlinale near Potsdamer Platz, supplemented since 2025 by a QR code of queer heroes.