HOLLYWOOD LEGACIES

Marlene Dietrich’s Actress Daughter Dies at 100

After Marlene Dietrich’s death her daughter wrote a “Mommy Dearest” type book in which she revealed why she didn’t call the film legend “mother.”

Maria Riva, the daughter of famous actress Marlene Dietrich, has died at 100, just before her 101st birthday on Dec. 13. The actress died of natural causes in her sleep at her son’s New Mexico residence on Oct. 29. Riva, a two-time best actress Emmy nominee, was the daughter of Dietrich and director Rudolf Sieber. The couple had a high-profile affair, later ending their romance but remaining friends. After her mother’s death from kidney failure in 1992, Riva published a biography recounting their tumultuous relationship. “I don’t use the word ‘mother’ for Dietrich,” she told People in 1993; explaining that the word “implies love shown to one person,” which she believed did not fit Dietrich. She described her as cold and self-centered. Despite their rocky bond, Riva co-authored a book honoring her mother with unseen photos and Dietrich’s poetry. As a child, she didn’t attend school because her mother wanted her nearby, wearing a uniform labeled “attendant to Miss Marlene Dietrich.” Living in her mother’s shadow, she befriended celebrities like Rosemary Kennedy and began acting in her mother’s films. After a brief marriage to Dean Goodman at 18, she moved to New York to teach at Fordham University, later marrying William Riva and raising four sons.