Brigitte Helm
Encyclopedia
Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch
, in Fritz Lang
's 1927 silent film
Metropolis
.
, Helm's first role was that of Maria in Metropolis which she began work on while only 18 years old. After Metropolis, Helm made over thirty other films, including talking pictures
, before retiring in 1936. Her other appearances include The Love of Jeanne Ney
(1927), Alraune
(1928), L'Argent
(1928), Gloria (1931), The Blue Danube (1932), L'Atlantide
(1932), and Gold
(1934).
Though having a 10-year contract with UFA
expiring in 1935, Helm incurred the wrath of Nazi Germany for "race defilement" in marrying her second husband Dr. Hugo von Kuenheim, an industrialist of Jewish background. Helm was also involved in several traffic accidents, and was briefly imprisoned. According to Otto Dietrich
's book The Hitler I Knew, Adolf Hitler
himself saw that manslaughter
charges against her from an automobile accident were dropped.
In 1935, she moved to Switzerland
where she later had four children with Hugo. After her retirement from films, she refused to grant any interviews concerning her film career. Helm was considered for the title role in Bride of Frankenstein
before Elsa Lanchester
was given the role.
Maschinenmensch
The Maschinenmensch from Metropolis, is a gynoid played by German actress Brigitte Helm in both her robotic and human incarnations...
, in Fritz Lang
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...
's 1927 silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
Metropolis
Metropolis (film)
Metropolis is a 1927 German expressionist film in the science-fiction genre directed by Fritz Lang. Produced in Germany during a stable period of the Weimar Republic, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and makes use of this context to explore the social crisis between workers and...
.
Career
Born Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Helm's first role was that of Maria in Metropolis which she began work on while only 18 years old. After Metropolis, Helm made over thirty other films, including talking pictures
Sound film
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades would pass before sound motion pictures were made commercially...
, before retiring in 1936. Her other appearances include The Love of Jeanne Ney
The Love of Jeanne Ney
The Love of Jeanne Ney is a 1927 silent German drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.-Cast:* Édith Jéhanne - Jeanne Ney* Uno Henning - Andreas Labov* Fritz Rasp - Khalibiev* Brigitte Helm - Gabrielle* Adolf E...
(1927), Alraune
Alraune (1928 film)
Alraune is a 1928 silent science fiction horror film directed by Henrik Galeen and starring Brigitte Helm in which a prostitute is artificially inseminated with the semen of a hanged man. The story is based upon the legend of Alraune and the powers of the mandrake root to impregnate women...
(1928), L'Argent
L'Argent (1928 film)
L'Argent is a French silent film directed in 1928 by Marcel L'Herbier. The film was adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, and it portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.-Background:...
(1928), Gloria (1931), The Blue Danube (1932), L'Atlantide
L'Atlantide (1932 film)
L'Atlantide is a German drama film directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. The film was made in three languages - French, English, and German - with Brigitte Helm starring in all three versions.-Cast:* Brigitte Helm - Antinéa...
(1932), and Gold
Gold (1934 film)
Gold is a 1934 science fiction film directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Albers.-Cast:* Hans Albers - Werner Holk* Friedrich Kayßler - Prof...
(1934).
Though having a 10-year contract with UFA
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
expiring in 1935, Helm incurred the wrath of Nazi Germany for "race defilement" in marrying her second husband Dr. Hugo von Kuenheim, an industrialist of Jewish background. Helm was also involved in several traffic accidents, and was briefly imprisoned. According to Otto Dietrich
Otto Dietrich
Dr. Otto Dietrich was an SS-Obergruppenführer, the Third Reich's Press Chief, and a confidant of Adolf Hitler.-Biography:...
's book The Hitler I Knew, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
himself saw that manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
charges against her from an automobile accident were dropped.
In 1935, she moved to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
where she later had four children with Hugo. After her retirement from films, she refused to grant any interviews concerning her film career. Helm was considered for the title role in Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein is a 1935 American horror film, the first sequel to Frankenstein...
before Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
was given the role.