BERLIN CALENDAR: MARLENE TAKES A BOW

Today in Berlin: May 6, 1992

Marlene Dietrich and Milton Berle at the recording studio for his show “Let Yourself Go” in June 1944 in LA. Dietrich learnt to play the signing saw from her screen colleague, Polish-Austrian actor and future Nazi-collaborator (assassinated by an execution squad in Warsaw), Igo Syn. Image from the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

On this day in 1992 Berlin and the world lost one of the last great cinema divas, the one and only, unforgettable, unsurpassed, and absolutely unabashed Marlene Dietrich. The actress and chanteuse died in Paris where she spent the last years of her life.

The grave of Marlene Dietrich in Stubenrauchstraße, Berlin-Friedenau (photo own).

Marlene Dietrich (actually Marie Magdalena Dietrich) was born in December 1901 in Berlin-Schöneberg’s neighbourhood of Rote Insel. Even though she lost her father at a very your age, her mother made sure that their girls received proper education and put a lot of effort into her and her older sister’s upbringing (the fact that the family was comfortable financially certainly made that task easier).

Marie displayed quite a musical talent and even planned a career as a violinist. A hand injury crossed those plans and sent the girl in a different direction: theatre. And it being the 1920s, soon a new medium - film - beckoned.

Marie Magdalene - now “Marlene” - as always, followed her instinct…