Birgitte Helm

[marc issue robinson]

Quoth Don Larsson:

>Just wanted to mention that today's obits included word that Birgitte
>Helm just died, at the age of 90.  She played both the prophetess and
>the seductress/robot in Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS.
>
>I notice that she retired from acting in 1935.  Anyone know why?

According to the obituary in The Guardian, "In 1936 [she] retired to marry a
wealthy German industrialist, Hugo von Kuenheim, by whom she had four
children, though it was said that her real reason for giving up her career
was a reluctance to be associated with Nazi propaganda. After the war, she
and her family moved to Ascona, Switzerland, where she died."

rgds, marc.

http://pcecef.dph.aber.ac.uk/~sybil/