- Marlene almost never wore bathing suits and also she hated swimming.
- Marlene authored 3 books:
Marlene Dietrich's ABC (1962)
Marlene (1989)
Some Facts About Myself (1990)
- Marlene's portrait was featured on a stamp issued in Germany on August 14, 1997.
- Marlene was named the 9th Greatest Female Actress in a list of 50 by the American Film Institute, ahead of Joan Crawford and behind Judy Garland, on June 16, 1999.
- Marlene became a United States citizen on March 6, 1937.
- Marlene was very afraid of germs, a condition known as bacilophobia.
- Marlene was nominated only once for an Academy award, for her performance in Morocco (1930) as Best Actress in a Leading Role.
- Marlene's 1930 film "Morocco" was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1992 as a historically significant film.
- Marlene was one of the stars featured on the cover of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
- Marlene was 5 feet 6 inches tall.
- Marlene appeared in a magazine advertisement for Lucky Strikes cigarettes in 1950.
- Marlene had a very long affair with Burt Bachrach during the sixties and was devastated when he left her for Angie Dickinson.
- Marlene became an American citizen on March 6, 1937.
- Her film, "Der Blaue Engel" (The Blue Angel) was the first German sound film.
- Marlene's nickname from Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s was "Dushka".
- Filmmaker Josef von Sternberg had a long affair with his protege Marlene, and was asked if he intended to wed her, he said that, he would rather share a telephone booth with a frightened cobra.
- Marlene Dietrich had an affair with John Gilbert after the collapse of his marriage to Virginia Bruce. At his funeral, Marlene became hysterical and collapsed dramatically on the coffin in a dead faint.
- Marlene has a Star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame" at 6400 Hollywood Blvd.
- On April 18, 2002, Berlin legislature bestowed an honor on Dietrich as "an ambassador for a democratic, freedom-loving and humane Germany." The declaration hoped this "would symbolize the city of Berlin's reconciliation with her."
- During the Hollywood Canteen, Marlene along with several other actresses entertained the soldiers. When the party was over Marlene went to wash the dishes, Hedy Lamarr joined her in the clean up, and Bette Davis remarked, "Get those two Krauts out of the kitchen!".
- Best friends with Rosemary Clooney and Hildegard Kneff.
- Marlene Dietrich was discovered by famed director Josef von Sternberg, who directed Dietrich in The Blue Angel as well as the following films, Morocco, Dishonored, Shanghai Express, The Scarlet Empress, The Devil Is a Woman, Sergeant Madden, and The Shanghai Gesture.
- Marlene's height is 5'6" (1.68m.)
- Marlene's father was Lt. Louis Erich Otto Dietrich, who died when he fell off a horse, she was ten years old at the time. Her mother remarried to Colonel Eduard von Losch, who was killed in WWI.
- She received the U.S. War Department's 'Medal of Freedom', in 1947, for entertaining American troops in WWII and her strong stand against Nazi and The Third Reich.
- Marlene: I dress for the image. Not for myself, not for the public, not for fashion, not for men.
- Marlene Dietrich: I was always indifferent to the glitter of fame. I found it troublesome, crippling, and dangerous. I detested it.
- Marlene: Admiration from unknown people leaves me cold. The fame that can completely alter the personality of a human being has no power over me.
- Marlene: I'm worth more dead than alive. Don't cry for me after I'm gone; cry for me now.
- Marlene: Courage and grace are a formidable mixture. The only place to see it is in the bullring.
- Marlene: A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman.
- Marlene Dietrich: I don't believe in a superior power. Once you're dead, that's it; it's all over!
- Marlene Dietrich [on her director Josef von Sternberg]: He was always forcing me to think, to use my brain and learn something when I was working; not merely to do what I was told.
- Marlene on her films: I'm not at all interested. Do you think I'd go and sit in some stuffy cinema and watch movies?
- Marlene Dietrich: Sex is much better with a woman, but then one can't live with a woman!
- Marlene Dietrich: Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
- Marlene: I was an actress. I made films. Finish
- Marlene: I never ever took my career seriously
- Marlene: I am at heart, a gentleman
- Marlene: I never enjoyed working in a film.
