Thea Gabriele von Harbou (1888 - 1954) was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is especially known as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic Metropolis and the story on which it was based. Harbou collaborated as a screenwriter with film director Fritz Lang, her husband, during the period of transition from silent to sound films.She was born into a family of minor nobility and government officials, which gave her a level of sophisticated comfort. As a child prodigy she was educated in a convent by private tutors who taught her several languages as well as piano and violin.
