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German actress, best remembered for her role as the dual role Maria and her double the Maschinenmensch in Fritz Lang`s 1927 silent film, Metropolis.
After Metropolis, which was her second film, Helm made over 30 other films, including talking pictures, before retiring in 1936.
Her other appearances include The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927), Alraune (1928), L`Argent (1928), Gloria (1931), The Blue Danube (1932) and Gold (1934).
In 1935, angered by Nazi control of the German film industry, she moved to Switzerland where she later had 4 children with her second husband Dr. Hugo Kunheim, an industrialist. After her retirement from films she refused to grant any interviews concerning her film career. Helm was originally offered the title role in The Bride of Frankenstein, but she turned it down.
Helm`s portrayal of the Maschinenmensch influenced films like The Bodyguard. The Queen of the Night video starring singer Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston) is interspersed with the nightclub scene in Metropolis in which Maria`s double seductively dances for the ruling elite. Marron also later performs at a Los Angeles nightclub. In fact, the actual metal woman from the Lang film is plainly visible as Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) enters Marron`s home, and Marron`s costume for the video and in her performance is a modernized version of the Maschinenmensch.
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Only German actress to date mentioned in the "In Memoriam" section during the telecast of the 69th annual Academy Awards in 1997. (June 2008).
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