Hedy Lamarr

Who Was Hedy Lamarr?

Hedy Lamarr was a distinguished actress and inventor who gained prominence during MGM’s “Golden Age” of cinema. Renowned for her performances in films such as Tortilla Flat, Lady of the Tropics, Boom Town, and Samson and Delilah, she shared the screen with notable stars including Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Beyond her acting career, Lamarr made significant contributions to science. She co-invented an early technique for spread spectrum communications, which laid the groundwork for many of the wireless technologies used today. In her later years, Lamarr became reclusive and spent her final days in her Florida home, where she passed away in 2000.

Early Life

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born on November 9, 1914, in Vienna, Austria. Discovered by an Austrian film director during her teenage years, she gained international prominence in 1933 for her role in the provocative Czech film Ecstasy. After her marriage to Fritz Mandl, a wealthy Austrian munitions manufacturer who sold arms to the Nazis, ended unhappily, Kiesler fled to the United States. Upon her arrival, she signed a contract with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio in Hollywood, adopting the stage name Hedy Lamarr.

Lamarr’s American film debut came with Algiers, in which she starred opposite Charles Boyer. The film’s success established her as an immediate box-office sensation. Renowned for her striking beauty and exotic allure, Lamarr became one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading ladies during the 1930s and 1940s. Her notable films include Lady of the Tropics (1939), co-starring Robert Taylor; Boom Town (1940), with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy; Tortilla Flat (1942), alongside Tracy; and Samson and Delilah (1949), opposite Victor Mature. She was reportedly producer Hal Wallis’s top choice for the role of the heroine in the classic 1943 film Casablanca, a part that ultimately went to Ingrid Bergman.

Secret Communications System

In 1942, at the height of her career, Hedy Lamarr gained recognition in a domain far removed from her acting pursuits. Alongside her collaborator, composer George Antheil, she secured a patent for a groundbreaking invention known as the “Secret Communications System.” This innovative radio signaling device was designed to alter radio frequencies in order to prevent enemies from intercepting and decoding messages. Initially intended to thwart German Nazi forces, this technology proved pivotal in advancing secure military communications and laid the groundwork for modern cellular phone systems.

Lamarr’s contributions to communications technology were not immediately acknowledged, as the full scope of their impact became apparent only years later. In 1997, Lamarr and Antheil were celebrated with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award. Additionally, that same year, Lamarr became the first woman to receive the BULBIE™ Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award, often regarded as the “Oscars” of the invention world.

Later Career

In the 1950s, Hedy Lamarr’s film career began to wane, culminating in her final cinematic appearance in the 1958 film The Female Animal, which co-starred Jane Powell. In 1966, Lamarr released her memoir, Ecstasy and Me, which achieved bestseller status. However, she later took legal action against the publisher, alleging inaccuracies and distortions introduced by the book’s ghostwriter. Additionally, Lamarr faced two shoplifting arrests, in 1966 and 1991, though neither resulted in a conviction.

Personal Life, Death, and Legacy

Hedy Lamarr was married six times throughout her life. In 1939, during her second marriage to Gene Markey, she adopted a son, James. Lamarr later had two biological children with her third husband, actor John Loder: a daughter, Denise, born in 1945, and a son, Anthony, born in 1947. John Loder also adopted James.

In 1953, Lamarr became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

In her later years, Lamarr led a reclusive life in Casselberry, a community located just north of Orlando, Florida. She passed away on January 19, 2000, at the age of 85.

Documentary and Pop Culture

In 2017, director Alexandra Dean brought attention to the multifaceted life of Hollywood starlet and unconventional inventor Hedy Lamarr through the documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. The film not only highlights Lamarr’s groundbreaking contributions to technology but also explores her life beyond the silver screen, including her personal struggles with severe drug addiction.

In addition to the documentary, Lamarr was portrayed in a dramatized format in a March 2018 episode of the TV series Timeless. This episode depicted her efforts to assist a team of time travelers in recovering a stolen workprint of the 1941 cinematic masterpiece, Citizen Kane.