Marika Rivera

Marika Rivera was born on November 13, 1919, in Paris, France. Her father was Diego Rivera, then an aspiring Cubist artist from Mexico, living in Paris. Her mother was the Russian born artist, named Marie Vorobieff, also known under her artistic name as Marevna. Shortly after her birth her father left to live with another woman, and later married artist Frida Kahlo. Young Marika Ribera was raised by her Russian mother, Marevna, and was educated as a dancer and actress. She also had a surrogate father, a Russian-Jewish artist Chaim Soutine, who formed a common-law family with her mother, Marie Vorobieff (Marevna). They lived in the artistic community of La Rouche (The Beehive) in Monparnasse. In 1938, Marika married the French painter Jean Paul Brusset by whom she had a son, Jean Brusset. Her second husband was Rodney Philips, who was the owner of Athelhampton House in Dorset, England. There Marika had her second son, David Philips, born in 1949. After the break-up of her second marriage, Marika lived with her mother and two sons in her own home in suburban London. She played bit parts in several films, of which the best known was 'The Fiddler on the Roof', and adaptation of 'Tevie the Milkman', a book by Sholom Aleichem. Marika Rivera also tried a career of a playwright, her play titled 'Marika's Cafe Theatre' (1980) was produced by Lyric Studio, Hammersmith, London, in 1980. She is living in retirement in a suburb of London.