Thea von Harbou was born in Tauperlitz (now part of Döhlau), Bavaria, in 1888,[1] into a family of minor nobility and government officials, which gave her a level of sophisticated comfort.

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".

[5] Praising Harbou's skills, Erich Kettelhut recalled: "She was not only well-liked by her colleagues, but also as much a creative force, as highly motivated and smoothly efficient, as her husband.

[8] They worked on a script that would reflect their pride in their German heritage, Die Nibelungen (1924), and enhance von Harbou's reputation as a writer for the screen.

Besides writing the novel and the screenplay, and developing the distinct moral ending of Metropolis, she discovered Gustav Fröhlich, who played the lead role of Freder Fredersen.

She used newspaper articles in developing the script and "maintained regular contact with the police headquarters on Alexanderplatz and was permitted access to the communications and secret publications of Berlin's force".

[14] Harbou received no credit as the script writer for M.[15] She was also involved in politics, joining the campaign against Germany's paragraph 218, which made abortion a crime.

[16]Shortly after von Harbou married Lang, he developed the habit of openly pursuing younger women, but they nevertheless presented themselves as a happy couple with a contented home that would have seemed like a small museum of exotic art for the common citizen.

[17] Then, during the production of Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse, Lang discovered von Harbou in bed with Ayi Tendulkar, an Indian journalist and student 17 years younger than her.

[19] Shortly after the divorce, von Harbou and Ayi Tendulkar contracted a secret marriage, because the Nazi state did not permit someone of her public stature to marry a dark-skinned Indian.

Lang's biographer, Patrick McGilligan, wrote: "Her direct work on behalf of the government consisted, she claimed, entirely of volunteer welding, making hearing aids, and emergency medical care.

Toward the end of von Harbou's life, pain from high blood pressure, migraines, and neuralgia weakened her, although she continued to write or dictate from her bed.