Synopses & Reviews
In andlt;Iandgt;Marlene, andlt;/Iandgt;the legendary Hollywood icon is vividly brought to life, based on a series of conversations with the star herself and with others who knew her well. In the mid-1970s Charlotte Chandler spoke with Marlene Dietrich in Dietrichand#8217;s Paris apartment. The starand#8217;s career was all but over, but she agreed to meet because Chandler hadnand#8217;t known Dietrich earlier, and#8220;when I was young and very beautiful.and#8221; Dietrich may have been retired, but her appearance and her celebrityand#8212;her famous mystiqueand#8212;were as important to her as ever. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Marlene Dietrichand#8217;s life is one of the most fabulous in Hollywood history. She began her career in her native Berlin as a model, then a stage and screen actress during the silent era, becoming a star with the international success andlt;Iandgt;The Blue Angelandlt;/Iandgt;. Then, under the watchful eye of the director of that film, her mentor Josef von Sternberg, she came to America and became one of the brightest stars in Hollywood. She made a series of acclaimed picturesand#8212;andlt;Iandgt;Morocco, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, Destry Rides Again, andlt;/Iandgt;among many othersand#8212;that propelled her to international stardom. With the outbreak of World War II, the fiercely anti-Nazi Dietrich became an American citizen and entertained Allied troops on the front lines. After the war she embarked on a new career as a stage performer, and with her young music director, the gifted Burt Bacharachand#8212;whom Chandler interviewed for the bookand#8212;Dietrich had an outstanding second career. andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Dietrich spoke candidly with Chandler about her unconventional private life: although she never divorced her husband, Rudi Sieber, she had numerous well-publicized affairs with his knowledge (and he had a longtime mistress with her approval). By the late 1970s, plagued by accidents, Dietrich had become a virtual recluse in her Paris apartment, communicating with the outside world almost entirely by telephone Marlene Dietrich lived an extraordinary life, and andlt;Iandgt;Marlene andlt;/Iandgt;relies extensively on the starand#8217;s own words to reveal how intriguing and fascinating that life really was.
Review
"It hardly seems possible that there could be room for yet another important biography on so iconic a star as Marlene Dietrich. . . . Yet Charlotte Chandler's andlt;Iandgt;Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, A Personal Biographyandlt;/Iandgt; proves invaluable. . . . Chandler has again demonstrated her unparalleled ability to get major figures of Hollywood's golden age to talk about their lives with unprecedented openness."andlt;BRandgt; and#8212;Kevin Thomas, andlt;Iandgt;Los Angeles Timesandlt;BRandgt; andlt;/Iandgt;
Synopsis
Based on interviews with Dietrich and others who knew her, Charlotte Chandler tells the story of one of the top ten female movie stars of all time.
About the Author
Charlotte Chandler is the author of several biographies of actors and directors, including Groucho Marx, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, and Mae West,andnbsp;all of whom she interviewed extensively. She is a member of the board of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and lives in New York City.