Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1914–January 19, 2000) was an actress and communications innovator. She was known as The Most Beautiful Woman In Films and also as a co-inventor of the first form of spread spectrum, a key to modern wireless communication.

Life

Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler to a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria on November 9th 1914, and died in 2000 in Altamonte Springs, Florida.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Vienna - Austria - 1914 - 2000

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While married to her first husband, Friedrich Mandl, aka 'Fritz Mandl', an arms manufacturer, she socialized with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. She also became educated technically in his trade. Mandl was obsessed with his wife and never let her out of his sight. She hated him and his Nazi friends and finally escaped to London by drugging him and the French maid he had hired to spy on her. Ironically, Mandl was Jewish. Whether the Nazis ever knew about Mandl and Lamarr's Jewish origins has been debated by historians; Friedrich Mandl came from an extremely assimilated family and it appears that he overtly hid his Jewish origins and converted to Christianity under evident pressure. Many also say that Lamarr's co-invention of spread spectrum as a potential World War II military application was fueled by her desire to do anything in her power to help see Nazi Germany defeated.

Related Topics:
Friedrich Mandl - Adolf Hitler - Benito Mussolini - Nazi - London - Christianity - Spread spectrum - World War II - Nazi Germany

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She met Louis B. Mayer of MGM in London. He hired her and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, the surname in homage to a famously beautiful film star of the silent era, Barbara LaMarr, who had died of a drug overdose in 1926. She had already appeared in several European films, including Ecstasy, in which she played a love-hungry young wife of an indifferent old husband. Closeups of her face in passion, and long shots of her running naked through the woods, gave the film notoriety. She also gained notoriety as one of the first actresses to bare her breasts, and in a major film. Mandl bought up as many copies of the film as he could possibly find, as he objected to her nudity, as well as "the expression on her face."

Related Topics:
Louis B. Mayer - MGM - London - Barbara LaMarr - Ecstasy

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She was also known as the "Laurence Olivier of Orgasm".

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In Hollywood, she appeared in many films, usually cast as glamorous and seductive, including White Cargo and Tortilla Flat (both 1942), based on the novel by John Steinbeck. Her biggest success came in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah (1949) with Victor Mature as the Biblical strongman.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - White Cargo - Tortilla Flat - 1942 - John Steinbeck - Cecil B. DeMille - Samson and Delilah - 1949 - Victor Mature

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Lamarr became a naturalized citizen of the United States on April 10, 1953.

Related Topics:
Naturalized citizen - United States - April 10 - 1953

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