Marlene Dietrich with her daughter, Maria Riva, who turned 100-years-old this past December!
Maria Riva, daughter of the legendary Marlene Dietrich and one of the earliest stars of American television, died peacefully in her sleep at her son Peter Riva’s home in Gila, New Mexico. She was 100.
Born Maria Elisabeth Sieber on December 13, 1924, in Berlin, she was the only child of Dietrich and film editor Rudolf Sieber. At age five, she moved to Los Angeles to live with her mother, who was by then a major star at Paramount Pictures.
As a child, Riva appeared alongside her mother in The Scarlet Empress (1934) and The Garden of Allah (1936). Later, she studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Academy in Los Angeles and worked with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater. She also performed on Broadway with Tallulah Bankhead in Foolish Notion in 1945.
Riva married scenic designer William Riva in 1947. After a short time in theater and teaching, she entered television. Her husband challenged her to improve what she criticized, and she accepted. CBS soon signed her to a three-year contract worth $250 a week — a rare deal for the time.
She became a household name during the early 1950s, appearing in live TV dramas such as Studio One, Suspense, Lux Video Theatre, and Climax!. Known for her strong screen presence, she earned Emmy nominations in 1952 and 1953 and even shared the cover of Life magazine with her mother.
Although her television career flourished, Riva often said she never sought fame. “I never had a burning ambition to be an actress,” she once said. In the late 1950s, she left acting and began managing her mother’s famous stage shows, including Dietrich’s acclaimed Las Vegas performances.
After Dietrich’s death in 1992, Riva published Marlene Dietrich: The Life, a detailed biography of her mother. “I consider myself a biographer, not the daughter,” she said in a 2009 interview, reflecting her desire to separate personal emotion from historical record.
Riva returned to acting in 1988 in Richard Donner’s Scrooged, playing Mrs. Rhinelander, the wife of Bill Murray’s boss. Her son, J. Michael Riva, worked as the film’s production designer. She appeared again decades later in the short film All Aboard (2018), directed by her grandson J. Michael Riva Jr.
In addition to acting, Riva co-authored a photography book on Dietrich in 2001, edited a collection of her mother’s poetry in 2005, and published a novel in 2017 titled You Were There Before My Eyes, about an Italian immigrant’s life in Detroit.
She lived a long, reflective life surrounded by family. She is survived by sons Peter, John-Paul, and David Riva, and by her grandchildren Lily, Ayla, Aidan, and Marilee.
Maria Riva’s story bridges two eras — the golden age of Hollywood and the dawn of television. Her career, humility, and deep understanding of fame leave behind a legacy as enduring as her mother’s legend.
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