Acclaimed biographer Donald Spoto brings to life one of the most incandescent and elusive star to grace Hollywood, Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) . He has tapped archival materials and conducted dozens of interviews to present a life story filled with crucial new details: her hardships and struggles for recognition in 1920s Berlin; her transformation into a screen goddess; her entertainment of Allied troops during the World War II; and her stint as a nightclub singer in the 1950s. Spoto also includes accounts of her love affairs with Yul Brynner, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, Eddie Fisher, general George S. Patton, Erich Maria Remarque, Frank Sinatra, and John Wayne.. From Library JournalHaving previously published a photo-essay on Dietrich ( Falling in Love Again: Marlene Dietrich) , Spoto has now completed a full-scale biography of the star of screen and stage. Blue Angel evidences extensive research, as did Spoto's recent Laurence Olivier: A Biography and his books on Alfred Hitchcock. News of Dietrich's bisexuality isn't likely to astound knowledgeable film buffs, but Spoto goes further than previous biographers in naming sexual partners (usually without citing his sources) . Spoto also seems to have penetrated farther behind Dietrich's public persona than have other writers; he is taken with her, but not taken in.
