Thea von Harbou

Thea von Harbou (1888 – 1954) was a German actress, author and screenwriter. Her first husband was the actor and director Rudolf Klein-Rogge, whom she married in 1914. She married Fritz Lang in 1922, and they collaborated in the following years, writing the screenplays for Metropolis and M together. They divorced in 1933, possibly because Thea had joined the National Socialist German Workers Party in 1932. Lang left Germany in 1934. Harbou wrote the script for Der Herrscher (1937), starring Emil Jannings. The movie celebrates unconditional submission under absolute authority, eventually finding reward in total victory. After the war she was detained by the British military government, and did unskilled labor. After receiving a working permit, she continued to write scripts. She died in 1954, aged 65, in Berlin. —Kino International