Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich

 Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (December 27, 1901 – May 6, 1992)

She remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola-Lola in The Blue Angel (1930), directed by Josef von Sternberg, brought her international fame and garnered her a contract with Paramount Pictures in the US. Hollywood films such as Shanghai Express (1932) and Desire (1936) capitalized on her glamour and exotic looks, cementing her stardom and making her one of the highest-paid actresses of the era. Dietrich became a U.S. citizen in 1939, and during World War II she rebuffed Adolf Hitler's request to return to Germany. Instead, Dietrich was a supporter of the Allies, selling war bonds and entertaining the troops. Dietrich was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the US in 1945, of which she said was her proudest accomplishment. Later in life, she fought cervical cancer and constant leg pain, for which she became reliant on painkillers. Marlene was also dependent on alcohol, and spent the last 10 years of her life in relative seclusion inside her Paris apartment. Marlene Dietrich died of renal failure at age 90 in 1992, and according to her wishes, was flown to her native Berlin for burial. Dietrich is interred at the Städtischer Friedhof III, Berlin-Schöneberg, Stubenrauchstraße 43–45, in Friedenau Cemetery, next to her mother.