Marlene Dietrich

Dietrich's first film after the end of her partnership with von Sternberg was Frank Borzage's Desire (1936), a commercial success that gave Dietrich an opportunity to try her hand at romantic comedy. Her next project, I Loved a Soldier (1936) ended in a shambles when the film was scrapped several weeks into production due to script problems and disagreements between the star and her director.

Extravagant offers lured Dietrich away from Paramount to make The Garden of Allah (1936) for independent producer David O. Selznick (she received $200,000) and to England for Alexander Korda's production, Knight Without Armour (1937) (at a salary of $450,000). Although she was now one of the best paid film stars, her vehicles were costly to produce and neither of the latter two films was financially successful. By this time, Dietrich ranked 126th at the box office and exhibitors labelled her "Box Office Poison" (alongside others like Fred Astaire, Joan Crawford, Dolores del Río, Mae West and Katharine Hepburn).

While she was in London, officials of the Nazi party approached Dietrich and offered her lucrative contracts, should she agree to return to Germany as a foremost film star in the Third Reich. Read Less