Marlene helps in the war against the Nazis

During World War II, she made her intentions towards the Hitler regime clear by not only becoming a US citizen, but also by entertaining USO troops overseas and giving anit-Nazi broadcasts in German. (She was skilled at playing the saw, despite her other obvious talents.) She was awarded with the Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian American honors, and was similarly awarded in France with a Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor. It is also during this period she made the remarkable films, Kismet and Pittsburgh.

After the war, Marlene continued to appear in films such as "Golden Earrings," Hitchcock's "Stagefright" and "Ranco Notorious." Then a distinction, vastly different than she had attained in the past occurred when her daughter Maria gave birth to a son. The media dubbed her as "the world's most glamourous Grandmother." In 1950, at the age of 49 she was photographed by Milton Greene in some of the most striking photographs of her proving that she was in fact all the glamourous starlet she had always been, despite her new title as Grandmother. Her films roles became fewer and fewer, but Marlene remained in the public eye by making stage appearances, notably in London, Moscow, Paris, Tel Aviv and even Berlin.

The last notable film Marlene made was the emotional "Judgment at Nuremberg" where she played a wife of a Nazi officer. From then on she appeared only in a handful of small roles and regular stage appearances. In 1960, she wrote the book A-B-C, which was billed as "the world's most glamorous grandma makes a thoughtful journey through the alphabet."

In the late '70s she withdrew from public life, becoming a recluse in the sanctuary of her Paris apartment. Although she spent the last twelve years of her life bed-ridden, she maintained active telephone conversations and correspondence with her friends and associates. On May 6, 1992 Marlene died in her Paris apartment in her sleep. Services were held at La Madelaine on May 10, and by her request she was buried in Berlin next to her mother, May 16, 1992.