Maria Elisabeth Riva (née Sieber; born 13 December 1924) is an American actress, writer and activist. She worked on television in the 1950s. She is the daughter of actress Marlene Dietrich, about whom she published a memoir in 1992.
Riva’s biography of her mother, Marlene Dietrich, was published in 1992, the year of Dietrich’s death. The book was well-received and went on to become a New York Times Best Seller.[15]
In 2001, Riva co-authored a photography book consisting of unseen images of her mother Marlene Dietrich. In 2005, Riva edited a volume of Dietrich’s poetry, Nachtgedanken, which was published in Germany and Italy.
Riva published her first novel, You Were There Before My Eyes: A Novel, in 2017. The novel is about a woman who leaves her Italian village and enters a new world as an immigrant in Detroit.[16]
In 2017, Riva also published the 25th anniversary edition of the biography of her mother, re-titled Marlene Dietrich: The Life.
Books in order of publication:
| Marlene Dietrich by Her Daughter | 1993 |
| You Were There Before My Eyes | 2017 |
| Marlene Dietrich: The Life | 2017 |
