Hedy Lamar, born Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler on the 9th of November 1914, in Vienna Austria, was far more than just a Hollywood beauty. She was a trailblazer in both the entertainment and technology worlds. Known as the “most beautiful woman in the world” during her time, Lamarr’s story is one of talent, intelligence, and innovation.
Early Life
I liked play-acting. I used to do it all the time as a child.
Hedy Lamarr
Hedy Lamarr grew up in a well-off Jewish family. Her father, Emil Kiesler was a bank director, and her mother, Gertrude, a pianist. Lamarr showed signs of exceptional intelligence and creativity early. She was captivated by both the arts and the sciences, spending hours dismantling and reassembling mechanical objects as a child. However, it was her beauty that first caught the attention of those around her.
At just 16, she left school to pursue acting, studying at Max Reinhardt’s theatre school in Berlin. Her big break came in 1933 with the controversial Czech film Ecstasy, which gained international attention for its daring content. This notoriety, combined with her talent, quickly made her a star across Europe.
I knew I could never be an actress while I was his wife. He was the absolute monarch in his marriage… I was like a doll.
Hedy Lamarr on her marriage
After catching Austrian munitions dealer Fritz Mandl’s eye after starring in the play Sissy, they married in 1933. Hedy was deeply unhappy and was forced to play host and smile on demand amongst Mandel’s friends and shady business partners, some of whom were associated with The Nazi Party. Although he admired her beauty, Mandl was deeply controlling, even attempting to buy and destroy all copies of Ecstasy. Their marriage ended in 1937, when Lamarr fled to Paris, escaping both her husband and the rising tide of fascism in Europe.
Hedy eventually made her way to London, where she met Louis B. Mayer of the MGM Studios. Following this meeting she secured her ticket to Hollywood, mystifying and enchanting American audiences with her grace, beauty and accent. She initially turned down the offer of $125 a week that Mayer offered, but booked onto the same liner bound for New York as he was. During that trip, Lamarr impressed Mayer so much he raised his offer to $500 a week which was accepted. To distance herself from the “Ecstacy Lady” reputation, she changed her name to Hedy Lamarr. Her new surname was homage to the beautiful silent film actress Barbara La Mar following a suggestion from Mayer’s wife Margaret Shenberg.
Hollywood Career
Mayer billed Lamarr in Hollywood as “The Worlds Most Beautiful Woman” and an unknown but well-publicised Austrian actress creating anticipation in audiences. After being cast in Algiers, an American version of the French film Pépé le Moko opposite Boyer, Lamarr hoped she would become another Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich. According to one viewer, when she first appeared on screen, “everyone gasped, Lamarr’s beauty literally took one’s breath away.”
I was the highest-priced and most important star in Hollywood, but I was “difficult”.
Hedy Lamarr
In future films, Lamarr was typecast as the archetypal glamorous seductress of exotic origin. After being cast in her second American film, I take this woman(1940), opposite Spencer Tracy under the direction of Josef Von Sternberg who regularly worked with Dietrich. Sternberg, however, was fired during the shoot and replaced by Frank Borzage. After the film was put on hold, Lamarr was cast as a mixed-race seductress opposite Robert Taylor in Lady of the Tropics (1939). When I Take this Woman was reshot by W. S. Van Dyke, Lamarr returned, with the resulting film being a flop.
Although she was successful in the “Golden Age of Hollywood” she also left her mark on technology and life as we know it now.
Contributions to Technology
In 1942, when her career was at its heights, Lamarr received recognition in a very different field to entertainment and movie making. Along with her friend, composer George Antheil, Lamarr patented the idea of a “Secret Communication System”. This radio signaling device was a means of changing radio frequencies preventing enemies from decoding messages. Designed originally to defeat the German Nazis, the system was an important step in technology development to maintain security of not only military communications and mobile phones.
Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.
Hedy Lamarr
Lamarr and Antheil were granted a patent for their invention in 1942, but their work wasn’t recognised at the time due to gender biases and their Hollywood status.
Although she wasn’t instantly recognized for her communications invention, in 1997 Lamarr and Antheil were honored with the Electronic Fronteir Foundation Pioneer Award, and she became the first female to receive the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, considered the “Oscars” of inventing. The main reason why they were not awarded earlier was because the wide-reaching impact of the device was not known until decades later.
Later Life
After her acting career waned in the 1950s, Lamarr faced financial troubles and legal battles, including unauthorised use of her likeness. She withdrew from public life, living in relative seclusion in Florida.
Hedy Lamarr passed away on the 19th of January 2000, at the age of 85. Today, she is celebrated as a cinematic legend and scientific innovator. Her story reminds us that beauty and brains can coexist, and she continues to inspire women in STEM fields around the world. In 2014, her birthday was declared “Inventors’ Day” in her honour in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
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