Hedy Lamarr was described as one of the most attractive and glamorous women ever to grace the silver screen. Her striking beauty is said to have inspired the look of Snow White in the animated Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But beyond her Hollywood fame, she was also a serious inventor, developing technology that later helped lay the groundwork for the Wi-Fi we use today.

 

Early Life

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914, in Vienna, Austria. An only child, she grew up in a financially well-off household, and as such, her parents would take Hedy to the theatre and ballet. Her father was a bank director, and her mother was a trained pianist. From an early age, she showed curiosity about both art and mechanics. She had a close relationship with her father, who encouraged her to look closely at the world around her, analyzing how things worked. One story goes that as a five-year-old, she reportedly took apart a music box just to understand its inner workings, then put it back together again.

Hedy attended a private school in Vienna, where she later said chemistry was one of her favorite subjects. She may well have pursued a career in science. But as a teenager, her striking beauty became impossible to ignore, and the attention it brought slowly steered her onto a different path.

At the age of 16, Hedy decided to become an actress. She began studying acting in Vienna and was able to get small parts in films such as Money on the Street (1930) and Storm in a Water Glass (1931). She then moved to Berlin, where she appeared in The Trunks of Mr. O.F. (1931) and No Money Needed (1932).

Her breakthrough role came at age 18 in Gustav Machatý’s controversial Czech film Ecstasy (1933), which brought her international attention. In the film, she plays a neglected young bride who leaves her husband to have an affair with a handsome engineer. The film was deemed offensive in some countries, including the U.S. Besides showing her in the nude, it feature a scene of her face implying she was having an orgasm.

Additionally, after Adolf Hitler rose to power, he had the movie banned because Lamarr was Jewish.

Hollywood

After arriving in Hollywood in 1937, Lamarr signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Louis B. Mayer initially offered her $150.00 a week, which she turned down, eventually receiving $500 a week. It was Mayer who convinced her to change her name to Hedy Lamarr.

Her American film debut was not with an MGM film, however. Instead, Mayer loaned her out to star in Algiers (1938) alongside Charles Boyer and Sigrid Gurie. The film made her an immediate box office draw. Through the late 1930s and 1940s, she became known for her beauty and screen presence in films such as Boom Town (1940) and White Cargo (1942), and Come Live with Me (1941) appearing opposite stars like Clark Gable, James Stewart, and Spencer Tracy. The contract system with studios at the time gave actors little choice in the films they would perform in. Louis B. Mayer wanted her in roles for her looks to entertain the troops, and she was often cast in decorative or femme fatale roles.

Clark Gable and Hedly Lamarr
Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr in Comrade X (1940) | Source IMDb

In 1945, Hedy formed her own production company in an effort to take on more substantial work. At the same time, she continued to pursue scientific ideas and inventions, a welcome contrast to the limitations she felt in many of her roles. Her first film produced under her own company was The Strange Woman (1946), in which she said, “I’m happier than I have ever been in my life because for once I’m in a picture I know will give me an opportunity to act.” That was followed by Dishonored Lady (1947).

Her greatest commercial success came when she played Delilah opposite Victor Mature in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949), which became the highest-grossing film of 1950 and the second-highest-grossing film of the decade.

Trying to build on the success of Samson and Delilah (1949) with her production company, she made Loves of Three Queens (1954). She played all three of the queens in the film. The film could not find distribution in the U.S., and the movie lost millions of dollars.

Lamarr’s film career declined in the 1950s as she appeared in multiple films that did not do well financially. Her last major movie role was in 1957’s The Female Animal.

Note: Lamarr’s name was included in the first batch of stars added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the 1960s.

Inventor

During her spare time on film sets and between productions, Lamarr would draft ideas for inventions or improvements to existing ones, such as an improved traffic light and dissolvable beverage tablets to create carbonated drinks.

Lamarr met Howard Hughes in the early 1940s. Hughes was known for pursuing high-profile actresses, and Lamarr was one of the most famous and glamorous stars at the time. He was immediately interested in her, both romantically and intellectually. The two were an instant match with their shared interests in science and invention. Hughes was working on creating the fastest airplane in the world. Lamarr looked at airplane wings and how square they were. She suggested design changes inspired by images of fast fish and birds.

After hearing about how well the German U-boats were doing against the Allies, she began to think of a way to improve torpedo technology. Once she had the idea, she partnered with her friend, composer George Antheil, to co-invent a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used a concept known as “frequency hopping” to prevent the interception of radio waves. At the time, the German military could jam the radio frequency used for torpedoes. Her design came up with a way to have the frequency shift from one frequency to another, preventing jamming.

They were awarded a patent for their technology in 1942. Although the U.S. Navy did not adopt the system, the concept later became foundational in spread-spectrum communication technologies used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Sadly, Lamarr was never compensated for her invention. At first, the Navy did not use her invention because she was classified as an enemy combatant at the time. Then, in the late 1950s, the U.S. Navy began to develop technology based on her patent. When she attempted to receive compensation after she found out, the military disputed the claim, saying they did not begin using the technology until after the patent expired. Even then, she could have sued, but at the time, she claimed she did not know that was an option.

It wasn’t until 1997 that Lamarr and Antheil were recognized for their work with awards such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award. That same year, Lamarr became the first female to receive the BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award. This achievement would lead Lamarr to be named the “mother of Wi-Fi” and other wireless communications. She was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 for her contributions to communications technology.

Personal Life

Hedy Lamarr was married six times and had three children, two of whom were biological and one who was adopted.

Her first marriage was to Fritz Mandl. Shortly after the release of Ecstasy, she met the wealthy munitions manufacturer, who had ties to fascists and the Nazi regime. She was 18 years old, and he was 33. The two married shortly after meeting. Mandl was one of the richest men in Germany at the time and discouraged her from acting, wanting her to be a piece of arm candy that he would show off, as many rich men are prone to doing. Lamarr later described the marriage as suffocating, even comparing herself to a prisoner. His controlling nature made it clear she could never pursue an acting career within that life. In 1937, she left him and moved to the United States, a decision also shaped by the death of her father, to whom she had been deeply attached.

After moving to the U.S., she met film producer and writer Gene Markey. The two were married in 1939 and adopted a child together. Unfortunately, Markey was not the most faithful husband, and the two divorced in 1941.When they divorced, the child stayed with Markey.

Her third husband was actor John Loder. They married in 1943 and had two children together, Denise and Anthony, and also adopted another child. The marriage ended in 1947, with Lamarr retaining custody of the children. A single mother in an era when that was a rarity. She had a volatile relationship with her children, attributed to her connection to the famous “Dr. Feelgood,” who would inject her with his special vitamins, including methamphetamine.

Her adopted child disappeared from her life. There was some dispute about the child, who at one point claimed to be the biological son of Lamarr. However, a DNA test later in his life proved that he was not her biological child.

Apparently losing interest in men who worked in entertainment, her fourth marriage was to nightclub owner Ernest “Teddy” Stauffer. That was followed by Texas oilman W. Howard Lee. Lee was her longest marriage, lasting from 1953 to 1960. At first, the two were happy, and she enjoyed being away from Hollywood for a time. However, Hedy again found herself as the trophy wife of a rich man, and the two divorced.

Her sixth and final husband was her own divorce attorney, Lewis J. Boies. It would be the last time she walked down the aisle, and after that, she had no further need for a divorce lawyer.

After Hollywood

Lamarr became a U.S. citizen in 1953. In 1966, she published a steamy best-selling autobiography, Ecstasy and Me. She had little to do with the actual book. She relayed her life stories to the ghostwriters of the book, who she claimed distorted many of the stories.

As her fame faded, her studio contract ended, and starring roles decreased along with lower salaries. Lamarr began to step away from the spotlight. However, it wasn’t Hollywood that turned its back on Hedy Lamarr, as some might assume. She was the one who chose to walk away. Newspapers would publish stories about how beautiful she used to be, and people would talk about how she used to look, even though, for her age, she looked lovely. She began to have plastic surgery performed, some of which went well, while others did not. And as with most people who receive plastic surgery, the older they get, the worse the surgery looks.

Multiple divorces and legal battles took a financial toll. She was arrested for shoplifting in 1966, though the case was dismissed. A similar incident occurred in 1991, again resolved without jail time. However, the financial cost of fighting the cases in court would have hurt her finances.

In 1974, she sued Mel Brooks over a recurring gag in the movie Blazing Saddles (1974), in which one of the characters is continually referred to as Hedy instead of Hedley, an intentional misuse of her name for parody. The suit claimed the parody infringed on her right to privacy and tarnished her reputation. The case was settled out of court with an undisclosed payment.

Hedley Lamarr Blazing Saddles GIFfrom Hedley Lamarr GIFs

She filed another lawsuit in 1996 against Corel Corporation for using a stylized image of her on the packaging of CorelDRAW 8. The digital image was based on a photograph of her, for which Corel did not obtain her permission to use. Lamarr sought $15 million in punitive damages and emotional distress. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 1998. The terms were not fully disclosed. She received a financial settlement, and the company stopped using her image. Lamarr was 84 at the time.

In 1981, Hedy left Hollywood entirely, moving to Florida. In later years, she lived much of her life outside the public eye, becoming a recluse, only maintaining contact with her children and close friends. Lamarr died on January 19, 2000, in Florida at age 85. She died peacefully in her sleep. The cause of death was heart disease.

Today, Hedy Lamarr is remembered not just as a Hollywood star but as an innovator whose early work in secure communications technology helped pave the way for wireless systems that are commonplace in the modern world. She continues to be celebrated for her dual legacy in both entertainment and science.