Authors: Donald Spoto
Elisabeth (left) with Maria, about 1909.
Maria Dietrich (front row, second from right, with black hair bow) at the Auguste Victoria Academy: Charlottenburg, 1914.
As a gypsy violinist in a school production, 1916.
Portrait of Maria from a family album, 1918.
Modelling in Berlin, 1922.
Flanked by two drama classmates in front of the Kammerspiele: Berlin, 1922.
Dietrich (left) as a chorus girl, dancing with the Thielscher Girls: Berlin, 1922.
On the day of her marriage to Rudolf Sieber: Berlin, May 17, 1923.
Margo Lion and Claire Waldoff.
Beginning a lifetime of entertaining on the musical saw: Vienna, 1927.
With Igo Sym (left) and Willi Forst during the filming of
Café Electric
: Vienna, 1927.
With Margo Lion, singing “Sisters” in
Es Liegt in der Luft
: Kömodie Theater, Berlin, 1928.
Publicity photo, 1928.
The last of Dietrich’s sixteen silent films:
Gefahren der Brautzeit
, with Willi Forst, 1929.