She was beautiful, talented, irascible, ruthless, vulnerable, and a true Hollywood legend. From abused child to dance-hall entertainer to silent-film actress, she went on to become one of Hollywood's screen goddesses with films such as Possessed opposite Clark Gable, with whom she began a torrid off-screen affair, Grand Hotel, and Mildred Pierce, her Academy Award-winning film. Joan Crawford succeeded and survived through sheer determination, talent,...

Marlene Dietrich began her career in her native Berlin as a model, then as a stage and screen actress during the silent era, and became a star with the international success "The Blue Angel." Then, under the watchful eye of director and mentor Josef von Sternberg, she became one of the brightest stars in Hollywood. Charlotte Chandler, who spoke with Dietrich in her Paris apartment in the mid-1970s, relies extensively on the star's own words to reveal...

Draws on final-decade interviews to reveal the public and private lives of the iconic Hollywood actress, in a portrait that discusses her four marriages and her feelings about her daughter's uncomplimentary account of their relationship.