Brigette Helm; Actress Starred in ‘Metropolis’

Brigette Helm, 90, actress memorable as the young robot-vamp in Fritz Lang’s silent screen classic “Metropolis.” A tall, blond beauty who starred in more than 35 German films, both silents and talkies, the Berlin-born Eva Gisela Schittenhelm declined to come to Hollywood and refused to work for Lang again after her first excruciating experience. A reluctant actress propelled on-screen by her mother, she worked daily for 18 months making Lang’s film, often under difficult conditions, including standing in water up to her waist and being encased in a metal shell. She portrayed both the virtuous Maria and a robot-seductress copy of herself in the 1926 film. Her other roles never measured up to that success. Disgusted with the Nazi takeover of the German film industry, she quit the business entirely in 1935. On Tuesday in Ascona, Switzerland.