Ringo Starr Found the Positive When an Actor Stole The Beatles’ Spotlight: ‘I Remember Staring at Her Legs’

Ringo Starr joined a wild ride when the Beatles added him to their roster. The drummer seemed to be the key to unlocking the band’s potential as they climbed to the top of the charts in England within nine months. The Beatles were rarely upstaged after that, and Ringo proved his worth when he came up big one of the greatest Fab Four songs. Yet some older entertainers weren’t ready to cede the spotlight in the early 1960s. That included actor Marlene Dietrich. She shared a bill with and tried to grab the spotlight from The Beatles, but Ringo found the upside of sharing a bill with her. 

Ringo Starr took in Marlene Dietrich’s legs when she tried to grab the Beatles’ spotlight 

The Fab Four’s rise in England and the United States happened differently. They enjoyed overnight success in America but had a steady ascendance in their home country. 

The slow rise at home led some established stars refusing to give up the spotlight. Dietrich was one of them. The German actor and singer shared the bill with The Beatles at the Royal Variety Performance in November 1963. That is to say, she tried to upstage the band.   

She pushed her way into photos. Dietrich told photographers getting shots of The Beatles that she wasn’t ready to be photographed. She returned later in costume and continued crashing photos when the press just hoped for pictures of The Beatles by themselves. It was unnerving for the photographers, but Ringo found the positive of Dietrich taking The Beatles spotlight (via 150 Glimpses of The Beatles by author Craig Brown):

“I remember staring at her legs, which were great, as she slouched against a chair. I’m a leg man. ‘Look at those pins!’”

Ringo Starr

Dietrich’s career as an actor was all but over when she crashed The Beatles’ photo shoot. (Her most recent role at that time came in 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg. She didn’t have another credited role until 1978). She focused more on her singing and performing career in the 1950s through the 1970s. Dietrich didn’t necessarily want to share The Beatles spotlight, but she didn’t have a choice. The Fab Four were about to reach the top of the mountain, and there was nothing she could do about it. The shared bill at the Royal Variety Performance ended up being an embarrassing meeting for the band.

Dietrich must have sensed the band had bright days ahead, which wouldn’t have been hard to see. Two Beatles songs, “From Me to You” and “She Loves You,” had already become No. 1 singles in England. Their debut album, Please Please Me, was finishing a 30-week run at the top of the charts.  With the band’s star on the rise, George Harrison didn’t know why The Beatles even accepted the gig.

Anyone paying attention could see The Beatles’ success coming from a mile away. It seemed like Dietrich did. The older star tried to upstage The Beatles and grab their spotlight in late 1963. The Fab Four soon achieved international fame, which they subtly shared with Dietrich.

The Beatles shared the spotlight with Dietrich on the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ cover 

By early 1964, The Beatles ruled popular music on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They were inarguably the biggest band on earth and trendsetters by 1967. That’s when they released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 

Dietrich upstaging The Beatles years earlier apparently didn’t bother the band at all. She was one of the cultural icons to earn a coveted spot on the Sgt. Pepper jacket and one of the few women to make the cover. She’s the person in yellow on the right side just over George’s shoulder.

The Beatles selected the famous faces that adorned the cover. Despite crashing The Beatles’ spotlight, Dietrich was right there alongside Muhammad Ali, Aleister Crowley, and future Ringo co-stars Marlon Brando and Mae West. The drummer was nonchalant about choosing cover models — he went along with what his bandmates decided. Still, Ringo the leg man couldn’t have been upset to see Dietrich share the Beatles’ spotlight on the album rather than crash it.

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