All About Marlene Dietrich’s Daughter, Emmy-Nominated Actress Maria Riva, and Her Grandkids
All About Marlene Dietrich’s Daughter, Emmy-Nominated Actress Maria Riva, and Her Grandkids
Giovana GelhorenSat, October 17, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC
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Marlene Dietrich and Maria Riva in 1936.Credit: Getty ImagesRiva lived to 100.THE GIST -
Marlene Dietrich’s only daughter, Maria Riva, was born on December 13, 1924, to her husband Rudolf Sieber.
Riva went on to become an accomplished actress, scoring two Emmy nominations.
She was open over the years about her and her mother’s complicated relationship, including in the bombshell biography of her mom in 1992.
A few months shy of turning 101, Maria Riva, the only daughter of Hollywood icon Marlene Dietrich and film producer Rudolf Sieber, passed away. She died while living with her son, author and literary agent Peter Riva, on October 19, 2025.
“We will all miss Maria’s intelligence, advice, and depth of human understanding,” Peter wrote in a statement, obtained by The Wrap. “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.”
“It is with sadness that we as a family have had to face our mother’s eventual passing, for she was always the one person we all could always count on being there — always ready with food, warmth, advice, and love, which were her truest gifts to all the lives that she touched,” he added.
Despite her death, Riva’s impact lives on, not only through her kids, seven grandchildren, and her great-granddaughter, but in how she opened up to the world about her mom, forever demystifying one of Hollywood’s most iconic and trailblazing women.
Below, learn more about The Blue Angel star Marlene Dietrich’s only daughter, Maria Riva.
Riva had a complicated relationship with her mother.
Maria Riva and Marlene DietrichCredit: Horst P. Horst/Conde Nast via Getty Images
Over the years, Riva didn’t shy away from telling the world about her upbringing. She was born in Berlin, Germany, on December 13, 1924, and, at just 6 years old, moved to Hollywood with her mother.
After the move, Dietrich refused to put Riva into school and had her educated by governesses instead so she could be by her mother’s side as much as possible, per People. Often Riva would describe their relationship as unlike any mother-daughter dynamic out there.
“We worked as a royal court,” Riva once said, per Washington Post. “Dietrich was the queen. My father was her majordomo. Her lovers were her courtiers. And I was her lady-in-waiting.” Riva said Dietrich once made her a uniform that read “attendant to Miss Marlene Dietrich.”
She was an Emmy-nominated actress.
Maria RivaCredit: Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Despite their rocky relationship, Riva went on to follow in her mother’s footsteps into acting. She appeared on Broadway twice and, after starring in her first CBS TV show in 1951, signed with the network to become one of their rare contract players, paying her $250 a week. “They tried to build their own stable of actors [on TV],” she explained to the Television Academy. “For this, we were on call,” she added. “I was the blonde.”
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Riva went on to appear in 500 teleplays and commercials. Per The Hollywood Reporter, she soon became William S. Paley’s favorite actress, starring in his anthology series Studio One, Lux Video Theatre, Suspense and The Philco Television Playhouse and on shows including Danger, Crime Photographer and Climax! She was nominated for two Primetime Emmys throughout her career, in 1952 and 1953, per IMDb.
She published her mother’s biography.
Maria RivaCredit: Eric Robert/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images
Shortly after Dietrich’s passing on May 6, 1992, at the age of 90, Riva released her mother’s biography, “Marlene Dietrich.” In it, Riva opened up about their relationship and made some eye-opening revelations. “I don’t use the word ‘mother’ for Dietrich,” she told People in 1993. “That is a special word that implies love shown to one person, and that is not what I remember.”
Among the bombshell revelations in the memoir is Riva revealing that she was raped by one of Riva’s governesses when she was 15. The abuse continued for months and led Riva into an alcohol addiction. Per TheWashington Post, Riva even went as far as to insinuate that her mother was responsible the incident.
“My mother wouldn’t have believed me,” Riva told People. “She had this ability to mentally erase anything she didn’t like to hear. I’ve never been judgmental of that woman who raped me. But I do blame [my mother], who made it possible for [that woman] to take what was placed before her.”
In addition to the book, Riva co-authored a book of unseen photos of her mother in 2001 and edited a volume of her mother’s poetry in 2005. She also published a 25th-anniversary edition of her biography of her mother in 2017.
She was married twice.
To escape her mother’s grasp in her young adulthood, Riva married actor Dean Goodman in 1943. Their marriage was short-lived, and they divorced in 1944.
Soon after, Riva met the love of her life, scenic designer William Riva, and they tied the knot in 1947. They remained married until his death in 1999.
Riva had four children.
During her marriage to William, they welcomed four sons: Michael, Paul, Peter, and David. By the ‘60s, she quit acting and moved to Europe to raise her family. Her son Michael, who became a production designer like his father, died in 2012.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
