Actress Maria Riva, the only child of actress Marlene Dietrich, has died in her sleep
Maria Riva, who was the daughter of Marlene Dietrich, has died.
Maria Riva, the only child of actress Marlene Dietrich, has died in her sleep of natural causes. Maria Riva, who was 100 at the time of her death, would have turned 101 on December 13. Maria Riva passed away at the home of her son, literary agent and author Peter Riva, at his home in New Mexico.
Peter Riva shared a statement about his mother Maria Riva’s death with The Wrap and said: “We will miss Maria’s intelligence, advice and depth of human understanding.” He also said: “The family is comforted knowing that she now goes to join her husband of 50 years, William and her eldest son Michael and her parents, Marlene and Rudi.”
Although Maria Riva quit acting in the 1950s, she starred in shows such as Danger, Crime Photographer and Climax! In an interview for the Television Academy Foundation website The Interviews, Maria Riva spoke about her mother Marlene Dietrich and said: “I was walking down the street with my mother. And a woman comes up and practically falls on her knees and looks up at my mother as though she were in a church, kind of geneuflecting in the middle of Times Square.
“And then she turned, got up, and looked at me and said, ‘Oh Maria! I saw you last night on TV, you were terrific! I loved it! I watched with my husband and my kids. When are you going to do your next Suspense?”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “After Dietrich’s death from liver failure, she sold much of her mom’s estate to Berlin to be housed in the city’s Deutsche Kinemathek museum.
“She and William Riva remained together until his death in 1999.”
Maria Riva wrote a biography on her mother Marlene Dietrich called ‘Marlene Dietrich by Her Daughter’. According to the synopsis on Amazon, “This biography tells the story of Marlene Dietrich's life - the Berlin child, the young actress, the mother, lover and international star. The book describes personal details of Dietrich's life, from the logistics of her travels to passionate meetings with John Gilbert, Edith Piaf and Gary Cooper.”