Film icon Marlene Dietrich has been remembered via a Google Doodle. The image appeared on the search engine’s homepage on what would have been the actor’s 116th birthday.
The illustration was created by artist Sasha Steinberg, who is better known as RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sasha Velour. The drag star portrayed Dietrich during the Snatch Game episode.
“She was a wild original!” Velour said of Dietrich. “Despite the pressures of the time, she followed her own course, especially in terms of politics and gender. As a drag queen, that’s particularly inspiring to me. Plus, she just had this power to her…in every role she’s mysterious and strong, brilliant. That’s what I aspire to be when I step on the stage.”
Sasha Velour has shared some of her early drafts of the image which she created in her hotel room during her recent tour of Australia.
Born in 1901 the German actor found fame in the country’s first ‘talking picture’ Der Blaue Engel (1930) and its English version, The Blue Angel.
The performer is remembered for her unique take on femininity, often appearing in a man’s tuxedo for her nightclub act. Pop star Madonna has credited Dietrich as major influence and often copied her trademark look her in videos and live performances.
Constantly reinvention allowed Dietrich’s career to span decades, in the 1970’s she toured the world with her cabaret show. Her working life slowed down though in 1975 when during a tour of Australia she fell off the stage and broke her thigh. Her final film appearance was in the 1979 film Just a Gigolo opposite David Bowie.
Dietrich spent the final years of her life as a recluse. She died in her Paris apartment in 1992, she was 90 years old.
OIP Staff
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