Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in 1914, in Vienna, Austria. Her father was a banker and her mother a pianist. She became an actress and, in 1933, at the age of 18, she starred in the Czech film Ecstasy, by Gustav Machaty. It became notorious because of its sexual themes.
Also, at the age of 18, Hedwig married Friedrich Mandl, a prosperous Austrian arms maker. He supplied equipment to the fascist governments of Germany and Italy and had received Hitler and Mussolini in his home. She accompanied him to meetings and conferences and gained an interest in science and technology. Her marriage was unhappy; her husband was controlling and jealous. To escape, she changed clothes with her maid and, in disguise, fled to Paris. There she met the film magnate Louis Mayer, who recruited her for Hollywood and persuaded her to change her name to Hedy Lamarr. He promoted her in the USA as the ‘world’s most beautiful woman’.
She became an immediate box-office sensation after the release of her first American film, Algiers, opposite Charles Boyer. Her exotic raven-haired beauty made her a film idol. She starred in Lady of the Tropics (1939) with Robert Taylor; Boom Town (1940) with Clark Gable, Tortilla Flat (1942) with Spencer Tracy; and Samson and Delilah (1949) with Victor Mature. She made 18 films in the 1940s, but her career faded in the 1950s. She became bored with acting.
She had always had an interest in technology and invention. She created a design for a better traffic stoplight and made a tablet that dissolved in water to produce a fizzy drink. In 1942, during the prime of her film career, Lamarr and a colleague, the composer George Antheil, received a patent for a radio signalling system. In an attempt to help the war effort, they developed a better way to guide torpedoes. It used ‘frequency hopping’ (or spread spectrum) to prevent the enemy jamming the signal. The US Navy did not adopt the technology during the war but, eventually, took it up in the 1960s. However, key elements of their work are now built into modern cell phones, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology. By the time of its widespread use, the patent on spread spectrum had expired, but it led, in 2014, to Lamarr and Antheil being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. In 1997, Lamarr became the first woman to receive the prestigious BULBIE Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award.
Lamarr was married six times. She became a recluse in her old age and died in Florida in 2000.
Having a successful career does not stop you from being an inventor or innovator in another field. Hedy Lamarr was at the height of her acting success when she devoted her spare time to inventing. She was known worldwide for her glamour, beauty and acting. Most people would have settled for that. But she wanted to make a big contribution to the war effort. She took a big challenge and, together with her colleague, came up with an invention that is in everyday use over 70 years later.
Recognition and reward can be a long time coming. We have seen this with other innovators. It took a long time for the full benefit of Lamarr’s innovation to be realised. If you want instant gratification, then do not become an inventor. You have to be committed to the challenge for its own sake.
Do not judge a book by its cover. Lamarr shattered the stereotype of the glamorous Hollywood actress by becoming a successful scientific inventor. She did not conform to the pattern. She created her own.
DID YOU KNOW?… In an oblique tribute to the actress, Mel Brooks included in his 1974 film Blazing Saddles a leading character called Hedley Lamarr, played by Harvey Korman.