“Österreicher in Hollywood” – “Hedy Lamarr”

After a varied life – Hedy Lamarr married a total of six times – she was finally discovered by Louis B. Mayer, who recruited her to the famous American film company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She rapidly became a star and a fashion icon of the late 1930s, thanks not least to her dazzling appearance. Almost every actress copied her elegant hairstyle with its central parting, and brunette suddenly became the only chic hair colour. At the same time, Lamarr was responsible for the rebirth of headwear as an accessory for actresses. At the height of her fame, she wore not only extravagant hats but also turbans, scarves, veils and much more. In the studio itself, however, Hedy Lamarr was reputed to lack ambition and to be extremely difficult at times. Alongside many a good role, she was mostly only to be seen portraying an attractive lady, which is also true for the film “Samson and Delilah”, her greatest commercial success.

Alongside her career as an actress, however, Hedy Lamarr was also an inventor. Thus together with the composer George Antheil she developed, 'almost incidentally' while synchronising a piece of music, a radio-based remote control device for torpedoes, patented in 1942, which used automatically changing frequencies to protect it from interference. Although this invention was never used for military purposes, the patent is still used every day in modern communications technology in Bluetooth connections and in GSM technology. In 1997, Hedy Lamarr was awarded the 'EFF Pioneer Award' by the 'Electronic Frontier Foundation' for her invention. What is also interesting is that the Day of the Inventor is celebrated worldwide on 9 November, the date of her birth.

SOURCE: AUSTRIA POST

published January 29th, 2011