Actress and dancer Marika Rivera, whose father was the celebrated Mexican artist Diego Rivera, has died at the age of 90.

Rivera died at the Chestnut House nursing home in Charlton Down, England, on Jan. 14, according to her son, David Phillips. She had suffered from advanced dementia, he said.

Born Nov. 13, 1919, Rivera had little contact with her famed artist father, renowned for his paintings and detailed murals.

She was the daughter of Russian-born Cubist painter Maria (Marevna) Vorobieff, who was a mistress to the Mexican artist during his first marriage.

As a young, budding artist living in Paris in the early 20th century, Vorobieff befriended some of the era's best-known artists working in the city, including Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani. She became known as the first female artist to adopt the Cubist style.

She grew enamoured of Rivera, but their relationship was a tempestuous one and reportedly ended soon after she — while pregnant — attacked him with a knife.

Though mother and daughter would later attempt to contact Rivera, he admitted in his autobiography My Art, My Life that he paid them no heed.

"The child Marika, now grown up and married, is a lovely woman and an accomplished dancer. For many years, she too wrote me letters and sent me photographs in the hope of softening my flinty old heart. I never responded. The past was past. Even if, by the barest chance, I was really her father, neither she nor Marevna ever actually needed me," Rivera, who died in 1957, wrote in the memoir.

Vorobieff died in 1984.

Marika Rivera first made her name as a professional dancer before turning to acting, both on the stage and in film. Her credits include roles in Darling, Hôtel du Paradis and Fiddler on the Roof.

Married twice, she is survived by her sons David Phillips and Jean Brusset.

With files from The Associated Press