By 1928 she was one of the best known movie stars in the world, but she was fed up with Hollywood and too smart for the way the industry treated actresses. She was brought to Berlin by Pabst, who was tired of overeager actresses; he had worked in 1925 with Greta Garbo, another restrained performer. Together they made two of the greatest of silent films. They were both scandalous for their portrayals of lesbianism and prostitution, and after returning to Hollywood she offended the sensibilities of a company town by turning down the lead in "Public Enemy" opposite James Cagney.
She made several unsuccessful films in the 1930s, and then, she writes in her book, "I found that the only well-paying career open to me, as an unsuccessful actress of thirty-six, was that of a call girl." One of her clients was William S. Paley, the founder of CBS, who sent her a check every month for the rest of her life.