Marlene Dietrich

Marie Magdalene Dietrich performed on Berlin stages and in silent films through the 1920s until Josef von Sternberg cast her as Lola Lola in The Blue Angel in 1930, which brought a Paramount contract and passage to Hollywood. She made six films under Sternberg's direction between 1930 and 1935, including Morocco, which earned her only Oscar nomination, and became one of the studio's top draws. During World War II she housed German and French exiles, funded their lives, and spent years entertaining troops on front lines - work that earned her honors from the U.S., France, Belgium, and Israel. She continued acting in notable postwar films for Wilder, Hitchcock, Welles, and Kramer through 1961, but from the 1950s onward she spent most of her time touring the world as a live performer. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked her ninth among Hollywood's greatest female stars.