What can I say - We have over 90 different postcards of Brigitte Helm, mostly due to our exposure to her from her performance in
Metropolis, director Fritz Lang's Sci-Fi classic, and one of the most influential films of all time.
Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm was born in Berlin in 1908, and at age 18 is encouraged by her mother to do a screen test for Lang, who promptly hired her for the dual role of the idealistic Maria and the evil robot woman. Only a novice, she became a star overnight among young German movie actresses. Reportedly, her first film role almost became her last due to Lang's insistence upon "realism" during a burning-at-the-stake scene. However, she survived to become one of Germany's top screen attractions, extending her popularity to British and French productions.
One of the few offers she was obliged to turn down was the part of Lola-Lola in von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1929), which went instead to Marlene Dietrich. Brigitte retired from films upon her marriage in 1935 and moved to Switzerland to get out from under the Nazi regime. She rarely talked about her film career and died out of the limelight in 1996.
Brigitte in her role as the evil Maria.
The softer side.
Somewhere in between.
Brigitte Helm - What do you think? Allure?
