Claim
Actress Marlene Dietrich from the classic 20s was bisexual. Most people who are into classic noir movies or just plain love the black and white era, have questioned Marlene Dietrich’s sexuality, and Wikipedia.com has also mentioned it. So is Dietrich bisexual as everyone claims she is?
Rating
Origin
116 years ago today, German-American actress Marlene Dietrich was born. With her came a unique glamorous style to film and theater. She kept her personal life well-hidden, but Marlene Dietrich was openly bisexual. Read on for more about the late actress.
Marlene Dietrich was born on December 27, 1901, in what is now Berlin, Germany. Though the country was at war when she was a teenager, she still attended school where she became passionate about poetry and theater. Her big break came as cabaret singer Lola Lola in the 1930 film, The Blue Angel.
By then, she was in America and signed a contract with Paramount Picture. Director Joseph Von Sternberg was a name to watch out for in Hollywood at the time, and he welcomed Dietrich with the classiest gift; a green Rolls-Royce Phantom III. In her very long, 80-year career, Dietrich was a trailblazing femme fatale.
Her boldness applied to all aspects of her life. It was reported that she would go to drag balls in Berlin, and was there throughout the growing LGBTQ scene.
While many wanted her to be poised and proper, Dietrich had her own ambitions. She was a boxer at Turkish trainer Sabri Mahir’s studio. “I don’t know how the feminine element sneaked into those masculine realms [the boxing studio], but in any case, only three or four of us were tough enough to go through with it,” Austrian writer Hedwig Baum wrote about her.
Her out-of-the-box thinking made her popular, and as she hated gender defining roles, Dietrich was known for her androgynous roles, and fashion sense. At 21, she married Rudolf Sieber, an assistant director, with whom she had a daughter, Maria Riva.
Sieber reportedly knew of his wife’s affairs with both sexes. Dietrich met with group of lesbian and bisexual Hollywood women whom she referred to as her “Sewing Circle.” It was later speculated that her friendship with these women were sometimes more than platonic, and that she called her male partners her “alumni association.” The actress proudly defied gender roles, and is a true LGBTQ icon.