Sure, she’s got a helluva punim, but Hedy Lamarr is more than just a pretty face.
While Lamarr grew up enamored with theatre and eventually pursued an acting career, her father nurtured her natural aptitude for science.
Lamarr’s first foray into moving pictures was at the age of 18 with an appearance in Ectasty (1933). The film featured Lamarr in a brief (but scandalous) nude scene that showed tight shots of Lamarr’s face in the throws of passion (shots that Lamarr later alleged were filmed without her knowledge).
After escaping a controlling relationship, the Austrian-born actress fled to Paris, then London, where she met the head of MGM Studios. Lamarr arrived in Hollywood in 1938 and was marketed as ‘the world’s most beautiful woman.’ It was her beauty that landed her roles as a seductive temptress in numerous films, most notably Boom Town (1940), with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, White Cargo (1942), in which she appeared wearing only a bra and sarong for most of her screen time, and Samson and Delilah (1949).
Lamarr’s biggest achievement, however, was off-screen when she co-invented a radio guidance system for torpedoes that hopped frequencies to prevent Axis powers from signal-jamming.
I present this week’s Vintage Vixen with beauty and brains, Hedy Lamarr.
Lead Image: Public Doman (MGM)
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