Maria Riva, the actor known for her bestselling biography of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, has died at 100, the New York Times reports.
Riva was born in Berlin to Dietrich, the legendary German actor and singer, and Rudolf Sieber, an assistant director. She spent much of her childhood in Los Angeles and later embarked on a career acting in plays, television, and films. She made her final feature film appearance in the 1988 movie Scrooged, directed by Richard Donner and also starring Bill Murray, Karen Allen, and Carol Kane.
Riva also served as a personal assistant to her mother, who resisted sending Riva to school for years, although she did eventually attend the Brillantmont International School in Switzerland, where she roomed with Gene Tierney, who would also go on to become an actor.
In 1993, Knopf published Marlene Dietrich, Riva’s biography of her mother, with whom she had a strained relationship. The book, which became a bestseller and received mostly positive reviews, told the story of Dietrich’s career, her bisexuality, and her final years as a bedridden alcoholic, and shocked some readers with its unvarnished and often unflattering portrait of Dietrich’s life. “Ms. Riva’s revelations will incense a great many people; indeed, they apparently already have,” the New York Times noted in a review of the book.
A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Rich period backgrounds and Dietrich's voice throughout support the impassioned honesty of Riva’s re-creation. No Mommie Dearest—though reviewers may point their fingers—but grand stuff.” Riva also published a novel, You Were There Before My Eyes, in 2017.
In a 1993 interview with People magazine, Riva reflected on her mother’s life, saying, “I can’t help thinking her life was a kind of tragedy. I wish her life had been fuller. Dietrich believed that she invented love, but I don’t think she really knew what love was.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
