MARLENE DIETRICH - DIETRICH'S SOLO SAUCY AUDIENCE

Silver screen idol MARLENE DIETRICH was so poor towards the end of her life, she allegedly accepted money to sing to an obsessed fan over the phone - while he performed an act of self-gratification. In a collection of journals written by the German actress' lifelong friend LEO LERMAN, he claims the ageing star was struggling to survive in Paris in the late 1980s until she struck up a relationship with a doctor. Lerman writes, "Marlene received a letter from a fan who told her how much he adored her. When she saw that he was a doctor, she rang him. This began endless telephone exchanges, during which he became more and more enslaved." When Dietrich found out that he was being treated for depression by a psychiatrist five times a week, she reportedly asked, "Why don't you give me that money. I'll sing to you five times a week." According to Lerman, the doctor sent her a GBP2,500 ($4,900) cheque, adding: "She sings to him, and you should excuse me but I have to put it blankly, he (achieves sexual gratification)." Dietrich died in 1992 at the age of 90.