(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
An audio tape of Hedy Lamarr speaking with Forbes interviewer
Flemming Meeks about her education in Austria
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
A photo of Hedy Lamarr as a child, around 6 years old
(Source: The Guardian)
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
An audio tape of Hedy Lamarr speaking with Forbes interviewer
Flemming Meeks about her education in Austria
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
A photo of Hedy Lamarr as a child, around 6 years old
Hedy Lamarr’s father instilled her with a love of inventing and technology from a young age.
My father, he was a wonderful
person. I miss him.
~ Hedy Lamarr, reflecting
on her life in her later years.
In a different era, she might
have been a scientist. At the
very least, it's an option that
was derailed by her beauty.
~ Jeanine Basinger,
film historian
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
Hedy Lamarr as a child with her father
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
Though Hedy Lamarr never had a formal
education, she had a sophisticated thought
process for her inventions
Lamarr’s acting career began at the end of the silent film era, which had been dominated by women. The end of the era marked the resurgence of male domination. In 1933, Lamarr starred in the Austrian film Ecstasy. The film featured an explicit scene with Lamarr, making her the first actress to feign an intimate scene so overly. The film made international headlines and Adolf Hitler banned all showings of the film as Lamarr was Jewish. Lamarr’s salacious reputation followed her to Hollywood despite her efforts to publically distance herself from Ecstasy.
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
Hedy Lamarr in Ecstasy
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
Hedy Lamarr, known as Hedy
Keisler at the time, shortly after
filming Ecstasy
Shortly after filming Ecstasy, Lamarr married Friedrich Mandl, a wealthy arms dealer affiliated with the Nazi party. Lamarr soon divorced him and fled to Hollywood to pursue acting. Lamarr went on to make her American debut and became one of the most renowned actresses of all time. At the height of her career and in the midst of World War II, she crafted inventions that reshaped communication.
(Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story)
Lamarr, pictured center left, with her film companay, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in the 1940s