German actress, author and film director of Prussian aristocratic origin. Despite her privileged childhood, von Harbou had the desire to earn a living on her own, thus driving her to become an actress, regardless of disapproval from her father. After her debut in 1906, von Harbou met Rudolf Klein-Rogge, and later married him during World War I. By 1917, von Harbou and Klein-Rogge moved to Berlin and von Harbou was devoted, full-time, to building her career as a writer; she was drawn to writing epic myths and legends with an overtly nationalistic tone. Her first close interaction with cinema came when German director Joe May chose to adapt one of von Harbou’s writings, titled Die heilige Simplizia. In short order she would become one of Germany’s most celebrated film writers, not only because of her partnership with Fritz Lang, but also for writing scripts for F. W. Murnau, Carl Dreyer, E. A. Dupont, and other German luminaries”. In addition to Thea’s success through film, her brother, Horst von Harbou, went to work for UFA as a photographer and began to work closely with Thea and Fritz Lang on many of their most famous productions. Thea von Harbou’s marriage to Fritz Lang came in 1922 with the success of Dr. Mabuse der Spieler and the death of Lang’s first wife, finally the two cemented their husband-wife partnership.
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At the end of Thea von Harbou’s life, pain from high blood pressure, migraines, and neuralgia had made her weak, however, she continued to write or dictate from her bed. While exiting a showing of Der müde Tod as a guest of honor in 1954, von Harbou fell to the ground and developed a hip injury; on 1 July 1954 she died in the hospital at the age of sixty-five.

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