Hedy Lamarr was dubbed Hollywood’s most attractive actress in the 1930s, despite the fact that she had no interest in the entertainment industry.
The diva, whose distinctive raven hair, scarlet lips, and pale skin formed the inspiration for Disney’s renowned Snow White, added, “I’m not so passionate about acting. “Getting up so early and wearing all that makeup!”
Hedy was stunningly beautiful, but she frequently felt that others didn’t take her seriously because of her looks. She immigrated to America after being signed to MGM for an astonishing $500 per week, but she chose to spend her nights tinkering in her home laboratory rather than going out to parties. She was the daughter of an affluent Viennese Jewish family.
Hedy once observed, “Any girl can be glamorous.” All you have to do is remain still and appear foolish.
Hedy mastered the art of playing the fool from an early age. She married Fritz Mandl, an Austrian armaments trader conducting business with Germany and Italy, the same year she rose to fame and notoriety as the lead in the obscene Czech film Ecstasy.
“They provided his clients with entertainment. According to Richard Rhodes, author of Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, “She would be sitting there listening to a German officer speak about their issues with torpedo guidance.” She took up a lot of knowledge.
Hedy went to America after becoming fed up with her husband’s overbearing behavior and running away to London, where she met Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM Studios.
Hedy was concerned about the outbreak of World War II even as she appeared in movies like Algiers with Charles Boyer, Boom Town with Clark Gable, and Ziegfeld Girl with Judy Garland.
She requested to be sent to Washington so that she might advise the military of what she had discovered regarding German torpedoes. She was essentially asking, “Debrief me,” but Rhodes claims that everyone believed she was being obnoxious.
She connected with George Antheil, an avant-garde composer and Renaissance man who, like Hedy, was eager to see the Allies triumph. They both came to the conclusion that there must be a method to steer a torpedo with some sort of radio control, according to Rhodes.
The two came up with a method to make the signal leap like notes are played on a keyboard in order to prevent the commands from being intercepted. He explains, “Hedy dubbed it frequency hopping.” They had their idea patented, but the American government only gave it the designation “top secret” and mostly disregarded it.
The most a beautiful woman was supposed to do for her adopted country was to sell war bonds, which is what Hedy ultimately did. The U.S. Navy rediscovered the concept in the 1960s and applied it to improve ship-to-ship communication.
Hedy and Antheil were never paid for their efforts because the patent had already expired by that point. Hedy and Antheil finally gained prominence in the 1990s because to their ideas, which are still used in wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS technologies today. Her first comments when they contacted to tell her she would receive an award, according to Rhodes, were “Well, it’s about time.”
