Maria Riva, Actress and Daughter of Golden Age Cinema Star Marlene Dietrich, Dies at 100

The German-American actress died on Oct. 29, weeks shy of her 101st birthday.

Actress Maria Riva pictured smoking a cigarette held in her black-gloved hand, circa 1950. Riva is the daughter of the actress Marlene Dietrich. Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images

Actress Maria Riva, the daughter of Marlene Dietrich, a star of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” of cinema in the 1930s and 1940s, has died at the age of 100.

The television star’s son, Peter Riva, confirmed her death in a statement with TheWrap, noting that she died of natural causes on Oct. 29 at his home in Gila, New Mexico, where she had been living since the beginning of last year.

“We will all miss Maria’s intelligence, advice and depth of human understanding. 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,” the literary agent and author penned.

“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.”

Maria Riva’s friends, Jerry and Laura Yutronich, also announced her death online, writing that she lived “a life full of adventure and memories.”

“People enter your lives and make an immediate impact, Maria was one of those ladies,” the statement reads.

“We were blessed to have her over for Thanksgiving and Christmas over the years. One thing is for sure she made an incredible apple pie. She'd always be the first person to say we gotta get these dishes done.”

Born on Dec. 13, 1924, in Berlin, Germany, Maria Riva died just weeks shy of her 101st birthday.

The Emmy-nominated actress appeared in her first onscreen role in 1934, starring alongside her mother in the film “The Scarlet Empress.”

She went on to become a mainstay on the small screen, appearing in a slew of television shows through the late 1950s, including “Danger,” “Suspense,” “Appointment with Adventure,” and “Target,” according to her IMDb page.

In 1988, she starred alongside actor Bill Murray in the dark holiday comedy “Scrooged,” a modern adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic 1843 novella, “A Christmas Carol.”

Actress Marlene Dietrich sits with film director Josef von Sternberg in a booth at Cafe La Maze, circa 1935. Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Maria Riva is perhaps best known for writing “Marlene Dietrich: By Her Daughter,” a candid biography of her mother, with whom she had a difficult relationship.

The book, which was published in 1992, just months after her mother’s death at the age of 90, later became a New York Times bestseller.

Maria Riva was the only child of Dietrich and film producer Rudolf Sieber.

Dietrich found international fame after playing Lola-Lola in the 1930 musical comedy-drama “The Blue Angel,” directed by Josef von Sternberg.

She subsequently launched her career in Hollywood, starring in “Shanghai Express” (1932), “I Love a Soldier” (1936), “Knight Without Armor” (1937), “Destry Rides Again” (1939), “Manpower” (1941), “The Lady is Willing” (1942), “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957), and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), among other films.

Maria Riva is survived by her three sons, Peter, John-Paul, and David Riva, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.