Maria Riva, the acclaimed actress and author, and the sole child of the legendary Marlene Dietrich, passed away on Wednesday in Gila, New Mexico, at the age of 100. Her powerful biography of her mother, published a year after Dietrich’s death in 1992, unflinchingly exposed the profound personal toll exacted by her mother’s audacious fame, complex sexuality, and captivating stage presence.
Her son, Peter, confirmed her passing at his home, where she had resided for the past eighteen months.
Born in Berlin, Ms. Riva’s early life was shaped by her parents, Marlene Dietrich and Rudolph Sieber, a charismatic assistant director who first spotted Dietrich as an extra in one of her earliest film roles. After their 1923 marriage, and as Dietrich’s star ascended, Maria’s childhood was largely spent amidst the bustling backlots of Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures.
Formal schooling was deemed unnecessary by Dietrich, who famously viewed English as vulgar and Americans with disdain. Instead, she insisted ‘The Child’ – her preferred moniker for Maria – remain by her side, serving as her devoted handmaiden and personal assistant.
Ironically, it was Josef von Sternberg, the Viennese director who was both Dietrich’s mentor and lover – the man credited with catapulting her to international stardom and securing her Hollywood contract after their first collaboration, ‘The Blue Angel’ (1930) – who introduced Maria to essential American film vocabulary like ‘soundstage,’ ‘makeup,’ and ‘wardrobe department.’
Maria quickly became adept at her unusual duties: meticulously tending to her mother’s elaborate costumes and props, signing countless publicity photos on her behalf, and maintaining absolute discretion on set. Dietrich’s costume designer even fashioned a special uniform for her, bestowing the title ‘attendant to Miss Marlene.’ For much of her early life, Maria believed her full name was ‘Maria Daughter of Marlene Dietrich’ and, mirroring her mother’s age-defying theatrics, was never entirely certain of her true age.
Their family life was, by any measure, unconventional. Mr. Sieber, based in Paris, would periodically visit with his timid Russian mistress, Tami. His duties included managing Dietrich’s finances, overseeing Maria’s upbringing, and meticulously archiving his wife’s voluminous correspondence — much of it from her many lovers, which Dietrich often read aloud. Maria cherished these visits, as they brought her the rare warmth and affection of Tami, who served as a nurturing nanny and housekeeper.
“Dietrich reigned as queen,” Ms. Riva recounted to The Los Angeles Times in 1994. “My father acted as her chief steward, her numerous lovers were her eager courtiers, and I was merely the lady-in-waiting. I found nothing peculiar about it; I simply had no other reality to compare it to.”
Without schooling, Maria lacked companions her own age. Her closest ‘friends’ were a select few of Dietrich’s less sycophantic lovers—notably, the English actor Brian Aherne, who secretly supplied her with Shakespeare plays—and her ever-present bodyguards, assigned after a kidnapping threat in the wake of the infamous Lindbergh baby case. One bodyguard even gifted her a frog, a rare moment of childhood normalcy.
At around age 12, Maria experienced her first taste of a ‘normal’ childhood event: an invitation to Judy Garland’s birthday party. She was utterly terrified, unsure of how real children interacted. She and Judy quickly found common ground, huddling on the porch and commiserating over their equally unusual, sheltered upbringings, while the other guests, strangers to Judy, expertly navigated youthful slang and the bewildering game of spin the bottle.
Throughout Maria’s childhood, her mother’s numerous male and female companions would discreetly depart before dawn, maintaining the facade that they were merely ‘good pals’ to ‘The Child.’ This procession of early lovers included figures like Josef von Sternberg, Maurice Chevalier, Gary Cooper, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and the poet-playwright Mercedes de Acosta, who also shared a romance with Greta Garbo.
These same guests often reappeared at breakfast, impeccably dressed in their street clothes. Dietrich was as passionate about her cooking as she was about her nocturnal escapades. Maria surmised that this elaborate charade eventually became tiresome for everyone involved, as her mother increasingly relegated her to the care of governesses in various hotels and rented homes.
Dietrich’s storied sexual conquests were legendary, spanning figures from Gen. George S. Patton to Colette and Adlai Stevenson, a list that only grew longer over the decades. Maria recalled a period in London where mornings might bring Michael Arlen for breakfast, followed by Christopher Fry for lunch, Kenneth Tynan for tea, and ‘a sexy new Swedish blonde’ for supper.
John Wayne, her co-star in three early 1940s films, proved a notable exception, seemingly immune to Dietrich’s allure. Years later, when Maria asked him why he never succumbed, he simply replied, “Never liked being part of a stable.”
Despite her prolific romantic life, Dietrich was, surprisingly, not particularly keen on the sexual act itself, especially with men. She favored oral sex, or, even more, the company of impotent men. ‘They are nice,’ she once confided to her daughter. ‘You can sleep and it’s cozy.’
Maria’s nights, however, were far from cozy. A governess-companion subjected her to repeated sexual abuse for over a year. This traumatic experience led Maria into teenage alcoholism and suicidal ideation. She entered a brief marriage in her late teens.
By twenty, divorced and still battling severe alcoholism, Ms. Riva drifted in San Francisco, finding work with a compassionate drag performer. As she noted, “A trained-by-Dietrich dresser can function very nicely as handmaiden to a female impersonator of Sophie Tucker.” This employer provided her with care, food, and shelter – a stark contrast to her previous diet of ketchup and bourbon – yet she continued to hoard sleeping pills and grapple with suicidal thoughts.
A turning point arrived when a friend gave her ‘The Neurotic Personality of Our Time,’ Karen Horney’s pioneering work in psychoanalysis that explored the social roots of emotional distress. Maria credited this book with saving her life.
“I saw myself reflected in its pages,” she shared with The Chicago Tribune in 1993, finding immense comfort in feeling less isolated.
Maria successfully achieved sobriety, relocated to New York City, and dedicated herself to a demanding acting career. She performed with a U.S.O. company, touring Europe until the war’s conclusion, after which she returned to New York. In 1947, while directing a play with producer Albert McCleery at Fordham University, she met and fell in love with set designer William Riva, whom she married.
Despite her disapproval of the marriage, Dietrich maintained a persistent and often overbearing presence in the Riva household, notably asserting a dictatorial role in the nursery following the birth of Maria’s first child, Michael, in 1948. When Life magazine subsequently featured Dietrich on its cover that August, declaring her “The Most Glamorous Grandmother,” she was reportedly furious. “It automatically makes my age a subject for great discussion,” she told The New York Times in 1952. “That is ridiculous. It is quite common to have grandchildren at 35.” She was, in fact, 51 at the time.
“What is it like,” Ms. Riva later mused, “to have a mother no one knows? It must be nice.”
Maria Elizabeth Sieber’s birth in Berlin on December 13, 1924, remained a partial mystery to her for decades. It wasn’t until her father’s passing in 1976, upon discovering her birth certificate among his documents, that she finally learned her true age. (Notably, he and Dietrich remained married until his death.)
Maria did manage to attend a Swiss finishing school for a few years, though Dietrich’s constant, insistent phone calls—often interrupting exams and hockey games—revealed her clear distress at the absence of her indispensable handmaiden. Maria also pursued formal acting training at director Max Reinhardt’s esteemed workshop in Hollywood.
Following her marriage, Ms. Riva embarked on a prolific career as a television actress, signing a contract with CBS and appearing in over 500 teleplays and numerous commercials. She also toured extensively in theatrical productions. However, with the birth of her fourth son, David, in 1961, she retired from acting to devote herself to her family. She continued her volunteer work for cerebral palsy telethons, a cause she had embraced at the encouragement of Yul Brynner (another of Dietrich’s former lovers). Additionally, she managed and produced her mother’s renowned cabaret act for as long as Dietrich was able to perform.
Ms. Riva is survived by her sons Peter, Paul, and David, as well as eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her husband, William Riva, passed away in 1999, and their son Michael died in 2012.
Dietrich’s final years unfolded in isolation within a squalid Paris apartment, a choice driven not by poverty or neglect, but by her aversion to visitors. Frail and beset by various ailments, she neglected personal hygiene and often improvised with household items as bedpans. Her days were spent on the phone, engaging with fans and former lovers, sustained by a potent mix of pills, alcohol, and dubious remedies, all while meticulously curating her legendary persona.
A year after Dietrich’s death at 90, in 1993, Maria Riva unveiled her long-awaited book, “Marlene Dietrich.” The biography, years in the making, garnered widespread critical acclaim and immense public attention.
Molly Haskell, reviewing for The Times, lauded it as “the ultimate act of demystification, a startling and riveting work.”
In a 1993 television interview with Diane Sawyer, Ms. Riva reflected, “I think those of us who live with great fame have to say that it is a trick of survival and that a lot of us don’t like it.” She emphasized that writing the book was an absolute necessity.
Recalling her childhood of virtual servitude, Ms. Riva asserted, “Power must not be allowed to triumph all the time. It mustn’t be forgiven no matter what it does, simply because it’s beautiful, famous, or powerful.”