Riefenstahl, Leni

German film director Leni Riefenstahl was born in 1902 in Berlin. She achieved fame and notoriety for her propaganda film TRIUMPH OF THE WILL and her two part rendition of the 1936 Olympic Games, OLYMPIA, both made for Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. One of the most controversial figures in the world of film, she had already made a name for herself in her native Germany and abroad when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933. With his friendship and support she became the "movie-queen" of Nazi Germany," a position she could not live down after the fall of the Third Reich. After the war, she spent four years in a French detention camp for her part Hitler's regime. In spite of her energetic attempts to continue as a filmmaker and her protestations that she had done nothing but be an unpolitical artist, she never managed to complete another film.

From the description of Leni Riefenstahl oral history interview, 1979. (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 262548768