MARLENE DIETRICH

Marlene Dietrich once said, "I am not a myth." But by referencing the term,Dietrich only reinforces the fact more emphatically. For, using almost anycommon dictionary definition of that word, Dietrich is a myth. Her imagewas fashioned by director Josef von Sternberg in films like The BlueAngel, Shanghai Express, and The Scarlet Empress, after which shemaintained a Hollywood career that included Destry Rides Again, RanchoNotorious, and an accomplished performance in Billy Wilder's Witness forthe Prosecution. She has been an object of worship to millions throughoutthe decades, up to and including this jaded, post-modern 21st century. Sheis the "intellectual's pin up girl," as author Herman G. Weinberg calledher, of filmmakers and film critics alike. She is the "Monstre Sacre" asone of her recent biographers has labeled her. She is her own "SuperiorProduct," (her daughter's words) manufactured and refined in her fertilebrain. In other words, Marlene Dietrich is an icon for all ages. The Movie Icon series: People talk about Hollywood glamour, about studiosthat had more stars than there are in heaven, about actors who weren'tactors but were icons. Other people talk about these things, TASCHEN showsyou. Movie Icons is a series of photo books that feature the most famouspersonalities in the history of cinema. These 192-page books are visualbiographies of the stars. For each title, series editor Paul Duncan haspainstaking selected approximately 150 high quality enigmatic andsumptuous portraits, colorful posters and lobby cards, rare film stills,and previously unpublished candid photos showing the stars as they reallyare. These images are accompanied by concise introductory essays byleading film writers; each book also includes a chronology, a filmography,and a bibliography, and is peppered with apposite quotes from the moviesand from life.