Actress. Most famous for her first film role as 'Maria' and her robot doppelganger in Fritz Lang's 1927 classic film "Metropolis" (she was only 19 at the time). She starred in more than thirty films throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, such as "Desire", "The Mistress of Atlantis" and "Am rand der Welt" (At the Edge of the World). Working with a perfectionist Lang on "Metropolis" was so physically tasking that she refused to make another film with him. She was Josef Von Sternberg's first choice for the lead in "The Blue Angel" but the part went to Marlene Dietrich after Helm turned it down. Disgusted with Hitler's Nazi takeover of the German film industry and refusing to leave for Hollywood, she retired from acting in 1935. Brigitte Helm repeatedly turned down interviews to discuss her film career. She lived a private life until her death in 1996 in Ascona, Switzerland at the age of 88.
Actress. Most famous for her first film role as 'Maria' and her robot doppelganger in Fritz Lang's 1927 classic film "Metropolis" (she was only 19 at the time). She starred in more than thirty films throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s, such as "Desire", "The Mistress of Atlantis" and "Am rand der Welt" (At the Edge of the World). Working with a perfectionist Lang on "Metropolis" was so physically tasking that she refused to make another film with him. She was Josef Von Sternberg's first choice for the lead in "The Blue Angel" but the part went to Marlene Dietrich after Helm turned it down. Disgusted with Hitler's Nazi takeover of the German film industry and refusing to leave for Hollywood, she retired from acting in 1935. Brigitte Helm repeatedly turned down interviews to discuss her film career. She lived a private life until her death in 1996 in Ascona, Switzerland at the age of 88.
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