- Original name:
- Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler
Hedy Lamarr
-
Who was Hedy Lamarr?
Hedy Lamarr (1913/14–2000) was an Austrian-born American film star known for her roles as a provocative femme fatale. Beyond her acting career, Lamarr invented a radio communications device with composer George Antheil that minimized the jamming of radio signals.
During WWII, Lamarr wanted to create a remote-controlled torpedo that could attack a submarine, but she needed to prevent the control signal from being jammed. She used her knowledge of armaments (gleaned from her marriage to arms dealer Fritz Mandl) to devise a system that switched the control signal among 88 different frequencies.
Although the U.S. Navy was not initially interested, Lamarr and Antheil received a patent for their method, known today as spread-spectrum technology, in 1942. This technology is now used in satellite and cellular phones.
2 Britannica SourcesThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where was Hedy Lamarr born and where did she become famous?
Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna, Austria. After marrying an Austrian arms manufacturer, she left him and went to Hollywood in 1937. There, she became a famous film star, signing a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. Although she often played decorative roles, she displayed her acting skills in films such as H.M. Pulham, Esq. and Tortilla Flat. Lamarr's most commercially successful film was Samson and Delilah, released in 1949.
2 Britannica SourcesThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What kinds of movies did Hedy Lamarr act in?
Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-born American film star, often played provocative femme fatale roles. After fleeing her marriage to an Austrian arms dealer, she went to Hollywood in 1937 and appeared in Algiers (1938), her first English-language film.
Under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1938-1945), Lamarr acted in films such as H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) and Tortilla Flat (1942). She often felt confined to decorative roles, such as Tondelayo in White Cargo (1942). In 1946, hoping for more substantial parts, she created her own production company but returned to exotic roles in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949), her most commercially successful film. Lamarr retired from making movies in 1958.
2 Britannica SourcesThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Hedy Lamarr contribute to science and technology?
Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-born American film star, is recognized as a noted inventor of a radio communication device. During World War II, Lamarr, along with avant-garde composer George Antheil, invented an electronic device that minimized the jamming of radio signals.
They devised a system using a piano roll to switch the control signal among 88 different frequencies. They received a patent in 1942, but the U.S. Navy was initially unenthusiastic. Though it was never used in wartime, this device is a component of present-day satellite and cellular phone technology. This method, now known as spread-spectrum technology, became widespread in wireless technology like Wi-Fi.
2 Britannica SourcesThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was Hedy Lamarr's invention called and why was it important?
Hedy Lamarr, in collaboration with composer George Antheil, invented a system called spread-spectrum technology. This invention, patented in 1942, involved using a piano roll to switch a torpedo's control signal between 88 different frequencies to prevent radio jamming.
While the U.S. Navy didn't initially adopt it, spread-spectrum technology is now widespread in modern wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi. This groundbreaking work earned Lamarr recognition as an inventor later in her life.
2 Britannica SourcesThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How has Hedy Lamarr's work impacted modern technology today?
Hedy Lamarr, a top Hollywood star, co-invented a system with avant-garde composer George Antheil that used a piano roll to switch a control signal among 88 different frequencies. This innovation, patented in 1942, aimed to create a remote-controlled torpedo that could evade signal jamming.
Though the U.S. Navy initially showed little interest, Lamarr and Antheil's method, known as spread-spectrum technology, gained widespread use in wireless technologies like Wi-Fi. While their patent expired in 1959, the significance of their invention was recognized in the late 1990s. Today, Lamarr is celebrated as both an actress and an inventor for her contribution to modern wireless communication.
1 Britannica SourceThis answer is created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Hedy Lamarr (born November 9, 1913/14, Vienna, Austria—died January 19, 2000, near Orlando, Florida, U.S.) was an Austrian-born American film star who was often typecast as a provocative femme fatale. Years after her screen career ended, she achieved recognition as a noted inventor of a radio communications device.
The daughter of a prosperous Viennese banker, Lamarr was privately tutored from age 4; by the time she was 10, she was a proficient pianist and dancer and could speak four languages. At age 16 she enrolled in Max Reinhardt’s Berlin-based dramatic school, and within a year she made her motion picture debut in Geld auf der Strasse (1930; Money on the Street). She achieved both stardom and notoriety in the Czech film Extase (1932; Ecstasy), in which she briefly but tastefully appeared in the nude. Her burgeoning career was halted by her 1933 marriage to Austrian munitions manufacturer Fritz Mandl, who not only prohibited her from further stage and screen appearances but also tried unsuccessfully to destroy all existing prints of Extase. After leaving the possessive Mandl, she went to Hollywood in 1937, where she appeared in her first English-language film, the classic romantic drama Algiers (1938). Lamarr became a U.S. citizen in 1953.
Under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1938 to 1945, she displayed her acting skills in such films as H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941) and Tortilla Flat (1942). For the most part, however, she was confined to mostly decorative roles, such as that of Tondelayo in White Cargo (1942). Hoping to secure more substantial parts, she set up her own production company in 1946, but within three years she returned to her exotic stock-in-trade in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949), her most commercially successful film.
Lamarr once insisted, “Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” That she herself was anything but stupid was unequivocally proved during World War II when, in collaboration with the avant-garde composer George Antheil, she invented an electronic device that minimized the jamming of radio signals. Though it was never used in wartime, this device is a component of present-day satellite and cellular phone technology.
Retiring from movies in 1958 (except for a cameo appearance in Instant Karma, 1990), Lamarr subsequently resurfaced in 1966 and 1991 when she was arrested on, and later cleared of, shoplifting charges; when she sued the collaborators on her 1966 autobiography Ecstasy and Me for misrepresentation; and when she took director Mel Brooks to court for including a character named Hedley Lamarr in his western spoof Blazing Saddles (1974). She was married six times (her husbands included screenwriter Gene Markey and actor John Loder) but was living alone at the time of her death.