Dietrich Was Camelot's Other Woman

Sex siren enjoyed long-running affair with Kennedys

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 18, 2009 12:33 PM CST

(Newser) – Marlene Dietrich had a peculiar effect on many of the world’s most accomplished and respected men: She turned them into bumbling adolescents. But the German screen siren, who entranced everyone from Frank Sinatra to Adlai Stevenson, enjoyed a special relationship with Ambassador Joseph Kennedy when their families summered together in the French Riviera, Cari Beauchamp writes in Vanity Fair.

While Rose Kennedy acted aloof, Dietrich told all to her husband, who had his own mistress. The bisexual actress, who loathed condoms and rejected Hitler’s overtures, saw herself in “Papa Joe,” and even bedded son JFK in the White House. “Onscreen and off, Dietrich was a chameleon who became whatever her lover or director wanted her to be,” Beauchamp says.

[Images (5)]

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Marlene Dietrich portrays Lola Lola, left, and Emil Jannings portrays Professor Immanuel Rath in a scene from the 1930 German film, "The Blue Angel." (AP Photo/PBS, The Museum of Film and Television, Berlin)

Marlene Dietrich in Las Vegas in 1955. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Christopher Claxton, William Claxton)

German actor Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992) laughs as she dances with Turkish-born film director Elia Kazan (1909 - 2003). (Getty Images)

Marlene Dietrich (1901 - 1992), American film actress, wearing the diadem which she wore to the 'Night of the Diadems', which was held at the Latin American House in Paris. (Getty Images)

Ambassador to Britain, Joseph Kennedy and his wife, Rose Kennedy attending a reception at the French embassy in London. (Getty Images)

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When her daughter asked her later in life why she had had so many sexual partners, Marlene responded with a shrug and said, 'They asked.' - Cari Beauchamp, Vanity Fair

She clearly thrived on pleasing her partners and didn’t believe in condoms, finding men 'so grateful when you tell them they don’t have to wear it.' - Cari Beauchamp, Vanity Fair

After years as witness, Maria could offer only that her mother’s inimitable combination of beauty, brains, and sophistication 'made bumbling adolescents out of many worldly, respected men.' - Cari Beauchamp, Vanity Fair

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Dietrich Was Camelot's Other Woman