Born in Berlin, 1906, Brigitte’s father died when she was just a toddler. An idealistic student who dreamt of becoming an astronomer, she had no intention of being an actor. Although she took part in school plays, she regarded the profession with disdain. Her mother did not hold the same view, seeing the star-potential in her child, she sent her daughter’s photograph to the wife to German filmmaker Fritz Lang. The teenager was tricked into taking a screen test and then cast into the leading role of Lang’s 1926 masterwork of German Expressionism “Metropolis”. A cult-classic, it has been regularly listed as one of the most important movies of all time. In Lang’s dark vision of a dystopian future, the upper classes live high up in luxury skyscrapers, while the slave-like workers who serve them live grim lives below. Helm plays the part of Maria, a peaceful revolutionary from the worker’s city, as well as the “amoral robot Maria”, a vampy seductress sent down from above to undermine the peaceful revolution and destroy the worker’s city. The filming schedule was grueling, working 18 months straight without a day off. The shooting of some scenes were absolutely excruciating for Helm, but her mesmerizing performance is unforgettable. After this massive success, her studio wanted to type cast her in all the vampy roles. Helm did not wish to play those types of characters, being quite the opposite in real life. She sued the studio and lost, then had no choice but to continue working to cover the legal bills. At the height of her success, she admitted to one critic that she would rather be a housewife and mother. It was a complicated life, both on and off screen for Helm. Later, disgusted by the Nazi takeover of the German film industry, she left and married a Jewish man, became a housewife with children, and lived out a reclusive life. She refused interviews to the very end. “There can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.” ~ Brigitte Helm