Marlene Dietrich: Who was the silver screen icon from classic movies Morocco and Shanghai Express?

Artist Sasha Velour describes 20th century icon as 'a wild original'

Marlene Dietrich, the sultry singer and actress, has been honoured with a Google Doodle on what would have been her 116th birthday.

She was one of the most famous women of the 20th century, her heavy-lidded gaze instantly recognisable.

Born in Berlin in 1901 Marie Magdalene Dietrich found success in Josef von Sternberg’s 1930 film The Blue Angel, in which she played a cabaret dancer.

On the back of the hit movie she travelled to the US and appeared in Morocco in the same year – one of her best-known roles which earned her an Academy Award nomination for best leading actress.

Morocco became famous for the scene in which Dietrich, clad in a man’s top hat, tails and white tie, kisses a woman.

The reference is recreated in today’s Doodle, illustrated by drag performer Sasha Velour, who said: “She was a wild original.

“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.”

Dietrich’s rejection of Nazism saw her films banned in Germany and she became a US citizen in 1939. She was lauded for her work boosting troops’ morale through wartime performances.

She starred in dozens of films over several decades and sang on stage into the 1970s.

She died in 1992, aged 90.