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Marlene Dietrich was undoubtedly one of the 20th century’s great and most enduring entertainers, writes Terry Sanderson.

Movie star extraordinary, cabaret artist, war time morale-booster for the allied troops – and a woman with a highly complex sexuality.

Although many of her love affairs with men are well chronicled (like all the best film stars, she slept with just about everyone, from Frank Sinatra to Yul Bynner, from Maurice Chavalier to John F. Kennedy), her relationships with women are not so well known.

Ambisexuality

Marlene’s freewheeling attitude to sex has been much analysed since her death, particularly by her daughter Maria, who wrote a tell-all book about Marlene in the grand tradition of Christina Crawford’s Mommie Dearest – only Maria’s effort was dubbed Mommie Queerest.

Maria revealed that Marlene used sex as a kind of weapon in her affairs with men – she didn’t actually care much for “it”. It was a way of controlling and manipulating them.

With women it was different. Marlene actually enjoyed the sex, and the relationships were much more satisfying for her. Edith Piaf, Mercedes de Acosta (who also wooed and won Greta Garbo), Rosemary Clooney, the German singer Hildegard Knef and many others shared nights of passion with Dietrich.

To call Marlene ‘lesbian’ would be to misrepresent her sexuality. To call her bisexual would also not be adequate. Perhaps ‘queer’ describes her best or simply, as one commentator said, ‘unstraight’.

The sex researchers Masters and Johnson had another category of sexuality besides ‘heterosexual’, ‘homosexual’ and ‘bisexual’ – it was ‘ambisexual’, and that might have more accurately covered Marlene.

She made love to those she was attracted to at any particular time in her life, their gender was immaterial. This is extraordinary, given that most of her career was built on being the ultimate fetish object for straight men.

Drag

Marlene’s public persona, particularly in her earlier days as an actress in Weimar Berlin, also reflected this sexual ambiguity.

She would not balk at being a clothes horse for the latest female fashion, but she might also be seen next day in the street wearing a well-cut man’s suit and hat, her hair hidden and her latest (female) flame on her arm.

She would often wear a bunch of violets pinned to her lapel – the sign in those times of a lesbian looking for love.

Marlene was a familiar face at the infamous drag balls that were popular in Berlin in the 1920s and threw herself wholeheartedly into the thriving gay life of the time. There are many early pictures of her, before Hollywood, that show her attired in butch drag.

Indeed, her preponderance for wearing men’s clothes often caused scandal, but she persisted and eventually it became fashionable and acceptable. But just after the war she tried to return to Paris wearing a chic trouser suit only to be told that if she entered the city limits attired in that way she would be arrested.

Her early decision to kick convention into touch has seen her described as “eccentric”, and her life was, indeed, completely out of the ordinary. She never belonged to anyone, except perhaps her daughter Maria.

She defied pigeonholes and would constantly reinvent herself in order to extend her career. From stage actress she moved into silent films, and then on to The Blue Angel, which brought her international acclaim and a Hollywood contract. More than fifty films later, she then became a soldier.

World War II

Her work against the Nazis in World War II resulted in a Medal of Freedom from the Americans and the Legion d’Honneur from France – the highest civilian honour from both countries. She worked not only on entertaining the American troops, but in propaganda work to undermine the German army.

Marlene was one of Germany’s few internationally famous celebrities and as such the Nazis were desperate to have her back. To have her working for the regime would have been a great coup, and Goebbels, the propaganda minister, made repeated approaches to persuade her to come home.

But Marlene would have none of it. She renounced her German nationality and took up American citizenship. This gave her the opportunity to help and shelter many of the Jewish artists fleeing from Nazi oppression.

According to recently released FBI files, the only time she even vaguely considered Nazi blandishments was when she hatched a plot to assassinate Hitler; it never happened, of course.

Diva

After the war came Marlene’s next incarnation – as a cabaret entertainer. And once again, the phoenix rose from the ashes, and Dietrich became the world’s highest paid entertainer yet again as she toured her famous show around the globe.

But as she grew older and the legend of glamour and beauty came harder and harder to maintain she became what all great stars should be – a monster. She was demanding, insulting, quick-tempered and intolerant of anyone who would not reach her standards of perfectionism.

When Earl Harwood booked her for the 1964 Edinburgh Festival he said it was the most traumatic experience of his life. Yes such was her success that he was forced to bring her back the following year.

The actor Maximillian Schell (who made an award-winning documentary about Marlene in 1984) said after her death: “She was a typical Berlin woman who could handle king and beggar with equal adroitness, and she was totally open about her homosexual relationships.

“I had the impression that Marlene did not converse with the people she met but rather wanted to provoke them. There was a spirit of confrontation in the air wherever she was.”

Marlene – an affectionate tribute

A new show chronicling Marlene’s life is taking place on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 February 2009 in London. Marlene – an affectionate tribute is a collection of rare film archive of Marlene’s many personas, including some of the campest sequences ever committed to celluloid.

Marlene – an affectionate tribute takes place at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL on Friday 20 and Saturday 21 February 2009 7.30pm. Tickets are £10, available from www.secularism.org.uk/marlene.html

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