Marlene Dietrich

Elke Sommer impersonating Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) was a German actress and singer known for her glamorous looks, sultry accented voice, and a film career which stretched from silent films to her final screen acting role, in 1978's Just a Gigolo (with David Bowie). Often cast as strong willed women or femme fatales aware of their own allure, notable movies include Morocco (with Gary Cooper, netting an Academy Award nomination), Destry Rides Again (with James Stewart), Hitchcock's Stage Fright, Witness for the Prosecution, and Judgement at Nuremberg (with Judy Garland).

Beyond her film work, Dietrich played a key role during World War II with US war bond tours and performing with the USO. She established a fund and donated personal income to help refugees and dissidents, and the singer even recorded broadcasts for the OSS to be used as propaganda to lower the morale of Germany's troops. For her wartime efforts, she received both the American Medal of Freedom (1947) and the French Legion of Honor (1951).

References

• Fellow German star Elke Sommer, in The Muppet Show episode 319, impersonates Dietrich (in wig and gown) for her second attempt at singing "Animal Crackers in My Soup."

• Earl Sinclair, in drag in the Dinosaurs episode "Nuts to War (part 2)," does a Dietrich impression, with accent, while singing her signature song "Falling in Love Again" and chatting with a soldier in the audience. The scene references Dietrich's own USO tours.

• Dietrich was parodied on CityKids with a hot dog named "Marweine Dietrich" (Camille Bonora) who is interviewed by Robin Leach in "Lifestyles of the Pump and Juicy."

• An early draft of Muppet Treasure Island featured Amazonia the Parrot, who according to Jerry Juhl had "a sultry Marlene Dietrich quality."