Sunday, August 29, 2021

Marlène fait une entrée... et une sortie


Arriving.

Dietrich was what they used to call a star. Just as much in public as on the screen. And her "real life" seemed to be all about the glamorous entrance or exit. To and from planes, trains, automobiles, or ocean liners. Or just walking into a party or leaving the theater. Whether coming or going, Dietrich was always ready for the camera; she was prepared to be seen

Departing.
(Seated next to her is her hairdresser and close friend Nellie Manley.)

And for almost five decades until, with age and health problems, she no longer felt able to summon the glamorous, "ageless" illusion, before she shut herself away in her Paris apartment to spend the last thirteen years of her life, there was always a camera pointed in her direction. As she knew there always would be. The candid images here are in roughly chronological order, dating from her Hollywood-bound departure from Berlin in 1930 until 1965 when, still the star, she was the center of a Manchester crowd's frenzied attentions.

With her husband and French manager. 
(This image is frequently captioned as Dietrich being arrested in Paris for wearing pants, something that never happened.)
The same as above.
The original print has been altered, crop marks added, for publication purposes.
With Nellie Manley.
With Noël Coward.
In costume for "Knight Without Armour." With Nellie Manley.
With Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
With Josef von Sternberg.
With Henry Fonda.
With Tyrone Power and his then wife, Annabella.
With Jean Gabin.
With her daughter, Maria Riva.
With Noël Coward.
With Noël Coward.
With Jean Marais.
With Jean-Pierre Aumont and Jean Cocteau.
At Edith Piaf's funeral.
With Hildegard Nef.