CASSELBERRY, Fla. – Did you know that Hedy Lamarr, one of the most popular actresses of her day, was also a brilliant inventor? She also lived her final years alone in Casselberry, thousands of miles away from Hollywood.
Born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, in 1914, she made her way to the U.S. in 1937 after catching the eye of Louis B. Mayer, of the famed MGM Studios. It was under Mayer’s orders that she change her name to fit Hollywood, becoming known as Hedy Lamarr.
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Lamarr fought hard to not to be only defined by her beauty, despite being known as “the most beautiful woman in the world” at the time, but early Hollywood wasn’t exactly known for its positive treatment towards its actresses.
It has even been reported Lamarr – and a combination of a few other women – were the inspiration for the looks of Snow White and Cat Woman.
But Lamarr was more than just a pretty face.
After starring in several movies and gracing the covers of nearly every magazine in her day, she became frustrated by the roles she was offered while at MGM. When her contract ended, she decided to produce several films herself – something unheard for a woman to do in those days.
Later, with the help of Hollywood composer George Antheil, she is credited with helping invent what is known as frequency hopping in hopes of helping the WWII war effort. The technology she thought, could be used to build jam-proof radio-guided torpedoes.
Her idea caught the attention of the National Inventor’s Council and in 1942, Lamarr and Antheil received U.S. Patent Number 2,292,387 for their invention. The patent listed her maiden and married name at the time, Hedy Kiesler Markey.
Unfortunately, the Navy classified their work as top secret, but effectively shelved their idea.
In another sad twist, the military later rediscovered the idea in the 1950s, and by the 1960s, most of the information technology being developed by or for the armed forces incorporated Lamarr and Antheil’s frequency-hopping concepts.
That invention now forms the basis of how cell phones, fax machines and other wireless communication works, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The pair never received any credit or royalties from the U.S. for their invention. Their patent expired before they realized the military was using their idea.
Lamarr was honored with the American Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 1997.
She also became the first woman to receive the Invention Convention’s Bulbie Gnass Spirit of Achievement Award.
In 2014, she was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
According to the U.S. Naval Institute, by 2017, “the market value of Lamarr and Antheil’s concept of frequency hopping was estimated at $30 billion.”
When asked how it felt not being recognized for the invention, Lamarr allegedly replied by quoting a portion of a poem by Kent Keith saying, “The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.”
Lamarr was married six times and lived a complex life. It’s said that she was one of the first Hollywood stars to admit to having plastic surgery, with some reports suggesting she became obsessed with the procedures to the point that she no longer looked like the same person. This could be one of the reasons that she was rarely seen in her final years.
She died Jan. 19, 2000, at the age of 85 in a nondescript, three-bedroom, two-bath home in Casselberry, Florida, where she lived alone, often being described as a recluse.
According to Denise Loder-DeLuca, Lamarr’s daughter, “Mom visited friends in Florida & just ended up staying there.”
While Loder-DeLuca declined a full interview since she gets so many requests, she said she saves the ones she does for young girls inspired by her mother’s accomplishments, “because I’m so proud that Mom is an inspiration to them.”
Loder-DeLuca pointed me to the documentary “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” which she said was the best source of information on her famous mother.
Next time you pick up your cellphone, know that Lamarr played a part in its technology. Google even honored posthumously Lamarr on her 101st birthday with a Google doodle.
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