Leni Riefenstahl

Leni Riefenstahl was a German film director, actress, producer, and photographer who is best known for her documentaries of the 1930s dramatizing the power and pageantry of the Nazi movement. Her notable works included Triumph of the Will and a two-part film on the 1936 Olympics. She was a talented swimmer and an artist who became interested in dancing during her childhood. She starred in five successful motion pictures between 1925 and 1929 before directing her own film, Das Blaue Licht (The Blue Light) in 1932. She became close to Adolf Hitler and received his support for her film projects. She was arrested after World War II but was not charged with war crimes. She denied having known about the Holocaust and claimed to be an apolitical artist. She later published two photography books on the Nuba people of Sudan and made a documentary on marine life. She died at the age of 101 in 2003.