Name: Hedy Lamarr
Date of Birth: 9 November 1914 Hedy's credited invention was for a radio guiding system for torpedoes which was used in WWII. She supposedly gained the knowledge from her first husband, Fritz Mandl, a Viennese munitions dealer who sided with the Nazis. Hedy drugged her maid to escape her husband and homeland. Children: Antony Loder (b. 01 March 1947), Denise Loder (b. 29 May 1945), James (b. 06 March 1939 - father John Loder; adopted 16 October 1939 as James Markey Lamarr). Sued Mel Brooks for mocking her name in his film Blazing Saddles (1974) (they settled out of court) ... Sued software company Corel Corporation for using her photo on the cover of software product CorelDRAW. [April 1998] After a screen test, it was Louis B. Mayer who changed her last name to Lamarr in honor of silent film star Barbara La Marr. Arrested for shoplifting in January 1966. Found not guilty. Arrested for shoplifting in 1991. One year probation. During her marriage to screenwriter Gene Markey, the two adopted a son, James. She soon after gave birth to two children, Denise Hedy and Antony, while married to actor John Loder. One of the few stars with whom costume designer Edith Head admitted she didn't like working. The others were Claudette Colbert and Paulette Goddard. Was co-inventor (with composer George Antheil) of the earliest known form of the telecommunications method known as "frequency hopping", which used a piano roll to change between 88 frequencies and was intended to make radio-guided torpedoes harder for enemies to detect or to jam. The method received U.S. patent number 2,292,387 on Aug. 11, 1942, under the name "Secret Communications System". Frequency hopping is now widely used in cellular phones and other modern technology. However neither she nor Antheil profited from this fact, because their patents were allowed to expire decades before the modern wireless boom. She received an award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1997 for her work pioneering work in spread-spectrum technology. Measurements: 33-22-34 (1933 in Ekstase (1933) ), 33B-23-35 (1940s starlet), 34B-26-37 (later career), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) For her appearance in Ekstase (1933), Hedy is credited as being the first nude woman as well as portraying the first sex-scene in film history. Scenes were cut and additional ones added in order to be able to release it in some countries. Her profile was the most requested in the 1940s by women to their plastic surgeons. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 337-338. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. The mansion used in The Sound of Music (1965) belonged to her at the time. The first Inventor's Day in Germany was held in her honor on 9 November 2005, what would have been her 92nd birthday. Became a naturalized citizen of the United States on 10 April 1953. Dr. Kleiner's pet head-crab "Lamarr" in the computer game Half-Life 2 (2004) (VG) is named after her. Took her, then new, stage name (Lamarr) in memory of Barbara La Marr, the silent screen star. Was considered for the role of Isla Lund in Casablanca (1942), but Ingrid Bergman was cast instead. Read more Hedy Lamarr movies (actor)User Comments |
