Hedy Lamarr, Born November 9, 1914, Was a Movie Star and an Inventor, and Both Parts Are True

Film still: unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna on November 9, 1914. She first drew attention in the 1933 film Ecstasy, then moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s, where Louis B. Mayer signed her at MGM. Her US breakthrough was Algiers in 1938.

Photo: Whitey Schafer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She went on to appear in films such as Ziegfeld Girl, Boom Town and Samson and Delilah, which was a big hit in 1949. For years she was marketed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, and I think that label overshadowed how sharp she was.

Film still: unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

During the Second World War she and the composer George Antheil developed a communication system based on switching radio frequencies, and they received a US patent for it in 1942. The navy did not use it at the time. Later versions of the idea are often linked to modern wireless technology, though historians are careful about how direct that link is.

Photo: unknown photographer, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014, long after she had stopped making films. She died on January 19, 2000. In Germany and Austria her birthday is celebrated as Inventors' Day.

Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Have you seen any of her films? Which one would you recommend? And do you think she would have been taken more seriously if she had been born later?