Brigitte Helm

Brigitte Helm (born Brigitte Gisela Eva Schittenhelm, 17 March 1908 – 11 June 1996) was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double named Futura, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film, Metropolis.
Early life and film career
Brigitte Gisela Eva Schittenhelm was born on 17 March 1908 in Berlin, the daughter of Gretchen Gertrud Martha Schittenhelm (née Tews) and Edwin Alexander Johannes Schittenhelm.
Helm took an interest in acting as a child, and by age 12 was taking the lead in school plays.
Helm's first movie role was that of Maria in Metropolis, which she began work on while only 17 years old. She signed a ten-year contract with UFA in 1925. After Metropolis, Helm made over 30 other films, including talking pictures, before retiring in 1935. 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). Helm was considered for the title role in Bride of Frankenstein before Elsa Lanchester was given the role.
Personal life
Helm was involved in several traffic accidents, and was briefly imprisoned. According to the Nazi Party's Press Chief Obergruppenführer Otto Dietrich's book, The Hitler I Knew, Adolf Hitler saw that manslaughter charges against her from an automobile accident were dropped.
Helm married her second husband, Dr. Hugo Kunheim, an industrialist, after her film contract expired in 1935. Helm stated that she retired from films because she was "...disgusted with the Nazi takeover of the film industry..." In 1935, she moved to Switzerland, where she had four children with Kunheim. In her later years, she refused to grant any interviews concerning her film career.
Helm died, 11 June 1996, in Ascona, Switzerland.
Selected filmography
Metropolis (1927), director: Fritz Lang
At the Edge of the World, (Am Rande der Welt, 1927), director: Karl Grune
The Love of Jeanne Ney (Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney, 1927), director: G.W. Pabst
Alraune (1928), director: Henrik Galeen; title role
The Devious Path also known as Abwege (1928) director: G.W. Pabst
Yacht of the Seven Sins (Die Yacht der sieben Sünden, 1928), directors: Jacob Fleck, Luise Fleck
L'Argent (1928), director: Marcel L'Herbier
Scandal in Baden-Baden (Skandal in Baden-Baden, 1929), director: Erich Waschneck
Manolescu (1929), director: Victor Tourjansky
The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna (Die wunderbare Lüge der Nina Petrowna, 1929), director: Hanns Schwarz
The Singing City (Die singende Stadt, 1930), director Carmine Gallone
Alraune (1930), director: Richard Oswald; title role
Gloria (1931), director: Hans Behrendt
Gloria (1931), director: Yvan Noé
In the Employ of the Secret Service (Im Geheimdienst, 1931), director: Gustav Ucicky
The Blue Danube (1932), director: Herbert Wilcox
The Countess of Monte Cristo (Die Gräfin von Monte-Christo, 1932), director: Karl Hartl
The Mistress of Atlantis (Die Herrin von Atlantis, 1932) director: G.W. Pabst
Three on a Honeymoon (Hochzeitsreise zu dritt, 1932), director: Erich Schmidt
Honeymoon Trip (Voyage de noces, 1933), directors: Germain Fried, Joe May, Erich Schmidt
The Marathon Runner (Der Läufer von Marathon, 1933), director: Ewald André Dupont
Spies at Work (Spione am Werk, 1933), director: Gerhard Lamprecht
The Star of Valencia (L'Étoile de Valencia, 1933), director: Serge de Poligny
Happy Days in Aranjuez (Die schönen Tage von Aranjuez, 1933), director: Johannes Meyer
Inge and the Millions (Inge und die Millionen, 1933), director: Erich Engel
Gold (1934), director: Karl Hartl
The Island (Die Insel, 1934), director: Hans Steinhoff
Count Woronzeff (Fürst Woronzeff, 1934), director: Arthur Robison
An Ideal Husband (Ein idealer Gatte, 1935), director: Herbert Selpin
Wie im Traum (1978, short), director: Egon Haase
References
Notes
Further reading
External links
Virtual History - Tobacco cards
German Brigitte Helm Memorial page
1906 births
1996 deaths
20th-century German actresses
Actresses from Berlin
German film actresses
German silent film actresses
Emigrants from Nazi Germany to Switzerland