Hedy Lamarr

Welcome to my page on Hedy Lamarr (Hedwig Kiesler actually).

Hedwig Eva was the name given to her by her parents, Emil and Gertrude Kiesler. 

Hedy is famous for her talents in acting, starring in many different movies.

She is also well known for her invention that helped the U.S Navy and changed war itself! 

She was a remarkable and talented woman that changed the world forever and will never be forgotten.

photo credit: floorvan

Hedy Lamarr was born on November 9, 1914. She was born into the hands of Emil and Gertrude Kiesler.

In her childhood she never went to a public school. Her parents were quite wealthy so she was always privatly taught by a tutor. As she grew older she eventually went to a private girls school in Vienna. Later on she realized that the tutoring had paid off for her int the areas of common sence.

At the age of ninteen Hedy became popular in the movie Ecstasy. The movie was so inappropriate that in was banned from many countries for several years.

Anyone out there like the movie the Sound of Music? Well if you do, rememer that HUGE castle that they filmed parts of the movie in? Well (you'll get a kick out of this) Hedy Lamarr used to live there! She was forced (by her parents) to marry a rich millionaire, Fritz Mandel. He owned the castle. While she was there Hedy acctually liked being waited on. Until she learned something about her husband that changed what she thought about him.

He kept on going out to dinners or meetings for "business". Hedy came to one of those and found out that her husband was making military plans that were secret. This did not bother her at first, but later it did. When it started to bother her she was too scared to say anything to Fritz.

He didn't treat her with the respect she deserved. When she was with him and his friends, Fritz treated her like nightly entertainment. Fritz was a control freak. He didn't even let her go swimming alone!

Hedy then wanted to escape from her husband. She failed on her first attempts. Then she did it on her last one. She put sleeping pills into her maid's coffee who was looking after her. She took the maid's dress and exited to the road of Sweet Freedom!

(The picture above is Hedy as a child.)

photo credit: manitou2121

Long story short after she excaped from Fritz she met a producer from MGM on a ship a few years later that was headed to Holly Wood, California. She quickly signed the contract. After the Ecstasy movie they told her she had to change her name. They gave her a list and she chose Lamarr as her new last name.

She was known as the most beautiful woman in the world!

Hedy Lamarr stared in many movies and is well known for he acting talent.

She went to live in Flordia in her older years. She had a surgery so she wouldn't have to wear glasses anymore. Hedy Lamarr died of old age (85)on the ninteenth of January, 2000.

(In the picture, left to right: Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner)

photo credit: classic film scans

Six Times

Hedy Lamarr was married as well as divorced six times in her life. :

1. Friedrich (Fritz) Mandel 1933 - 1937

2. Gene Markey 1939 - 1941

3. John Loder 1943 - 1947

4. Ernest "Ted" Stauffer 1951 - 1952

5. W. Howard Lee 1953 - 1960

6. Lewis J. Boies 1963 - 1965

Unfortunately Hedy Lamarr never found her true love.

photo credit: Marxchivist

As I said in the introduction, Hedy Lamarr's invention helped the U.S Navy and changed war itself! Hedy invented (with her partner George Anthiel) a way to send off torpedoes without any of other ships knowing. It was channel hopping tecnology. The Navy didn't use Hedy's idea for 20 years after she invented it. But either way, her invention was (and still is) very useful to the navy. It also assists with modern day cell phones, pagers, and any other wireless electronics. So, not only was Hedy a woman beautiful, but she was also very smart!

(The picture above is a picture of George Anthiel, Hedy's partner in her big invention.)