My Favorite Vintage Movies Actress

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Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Kiesler on November, 9 , 1914 in Vienna Austria. Her parents enjoyed the theater and performing arts and indulged her in it. With her stunning looks, She worked as a script girl and did some small parts until in 1931 she went to Berlin. Nazis were on the rise and with her Jewish heritage, she had to be careful. One of her first films was a scandalous 1933 Czech film, Ecstasy, in which she did a love scene and appeared nude in a 10-minute swimming sequence. This scandalous performance followed her for the rest of her life. Her first marriage was to Fritz Mandl in 1933. Fascism was rampant and he made his money dealing in guns. He was filthy rich and held lavish parties in his mansion. She was his arm candy and was held nearly as a prisoner until she was able to sneak out dressed as a maid and escape with some jewels he had given her. She was married five more times, adopted a boy, and had two other children. She was not good at motherhood and sent them to boarding school. In Hollywood, she was seen as the most beautiful woman of cinema. Her stunning looks, sex appeal, and exotic glamour made her a success in films. Her most famous ones were Algiers and Samson and Delilah. Two other of my favorites were The Strange Woman and Dishonored Lady. During the war, she helped out at the Cantina in Hollywood where the military went for free to dine and be entertained by movie stars like Bette Davis, Van Johnson, and Hedy Lamarr. She also helped sell war bonds. But Hedy was not just a pretty face. Although she had never had any formal training she invented the Frequency-hopping spread spectrum but, when she took it before the Government they rejected it. Because of the lack of a good torpedo guidance system 75,000 lives were lost and 14 million tons of cargo. Lamarr's invention would have made for a much better system to guide the torpedoes and save lives and cargo. In the 80s when mobile phones were being developed, there was a need for them to be wireless and it was Hedy Lamarr's system that made this possible in the WiFi system of today. So important was her invention that Nov. 9th(her birthday) became Inventor's Day in Austria. Hedy Lamarr passed away January 19, 2000. Picture is from 247sports.com