Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films was born on November 9, 1914 as Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler. She was the only child of Emil Kiesler, a successful bank manager, and Gertrude Kiesler who was a pianist. Although her parents were both from Jewish families, Lamarr was raised as a Catholic.
Lamarr began her acting career at a noticeably young age. She showed interest in theatre and film while she was still a child. At 12 years old, Lamarr won the Vienna beauty contest and she featured in her first film, Geld auf der Strase, at age 17.
She went on with her film career and worked with Czechoslovakian and German productions. It was not until 1932 that she was recognized after she played in the German film Exstase. This film made her recognized by Hollywood producers, and it was not long before signed a contract with MGM.
Once she got into Hollywood, she resorted to change her name to Hedy Lamarr. She starred in her first Hollywood film Algiers (1938) which made her a huge star. She was also featured in other popular films like Tortilla Flat (1942), White Cargo (1942), Samson and Delilah (1949) and The Female Animal (1957). In these films, she worked alongside popular actors like Charles Boyer, Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, and Spenser Tracy.
In her final years, Lamarr communicated with the outside world only by telephone. She did not spend time with anyone in person during the last decades of her life. On January 19, 2000, Lamarr passed on in Casselberry, Florida, aged 85. She was cremated as per her wishes and her ashes were spread in Austria’s Vienna Woods.
And, she was so much more than her looks or acting talent. She invented and patented the idea of frequency shifting in wireless communications, the basis for what we now call wifi and bluetooth technologies.
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