Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna in 1914 as Hedwig Eva Maria Kisler. Although she will become one of the most popular Hollywood actresses in the 1930s, no role entrusted to her is as interesting and inspiring as her life.
It was celebrated by the Czechoslovak film "Ecstasy" from 1933, which entered the history of cinema as the first film with nude scenes. Because of this long-banned film, Hedi was often remembered (despite numerous later roles) precisely for the scenes in which she swims naked in the lake. Her name and this scene are also shown in the cult Yugoslav film "Marathoners Run the Circle of Honor".
As if nudity wasn't enough, "Ecstasy" is the first film to show a female orgasm… in close-up! The director simulated it by tickling Hedi off the frame, and the scene seemed more than convincing. Critics called the film "pure pornography", but for the first time, the film was openly taboo - that women love sex and can enjoy it!
After an unhappy marriage to an industrialist from Vienna, Hedi moved to London and then to America, where she made numerous films as an actress for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film company.
At the request of MGM, she takes the surname Lamar - Max Reinhart, a famous film and theater director, stated that Hedi Lamar is the most beautiful woman in Europe. When she emigrated to America, MGM promoted her as "the most beautiful woman in the world."
The media covered her turbulent private life - she married six times! After marrying an industrialist, she was married to a screenwriter, an actor, a nightclub owner, an oil mogul and, ultimately, her own lawyer.
She got out of all these marriages in less than twenty years, of which only the fifth, with the mogul Howard Lee, lasted seven years. In addition to the scandal, the marriages brought her three children, one of whom she adopted. By her own admission, more than fame and fortune, it was children who were her greatest happiness.
A genius in the body of an angel:
Journalists who wrote about her roles, failed marriages and scandals could not even imagine that behind the beautiful face of the actress hides a person of exceptional intelligence who was an inventor in her free time!
Hedi Lamar was not happy with the world of film, in which she was often just a decoration due to her enchanting appearance. She became more and more interested in her secret love - science and invention.
At the beginning of the war, in 1941, she teamed up with her neighbor, the avant-garde composer George Antheil, and together they developed the concept of changing frequencies as a means of secrecy of communications.
This patent used a roller made of a mechanical piano to walk on 88 different frequencies, and its purpose was to protect radio-guided torpedoes.
Although Antheil and Lamarr were granted a patent, the technique that existed in 1942 was not good enough to be applied in practice. In fact, it came into practical use only in 1962, when the US military used it on its warships.
By then, however, the patent had already expired, so they paid nothing to Hedy Lamarr. Her contribution to the development of this principle remained completely neglected until in 1997 the EFF awarded Lamarr a special prize for her contribution to the development of wireless technology.
The idea of changing frequencies serves, namely, as the basis for modern broad-spectrum communication technology, as used in Wi-Fi networks, and in many cordless phones. The importance of the idea can be seen in the fact that in 1998 Wi-LAN, Inc. from Ottawa bought a 49% patent right from Hedy Lamarr, in exchange for shares. So Hedy Lamarr still managed to make some money on her idea.
The rapid development of digital communications, without Hedi Lamar's patent, would not have been possible. Its patent is still successfully applied to mobile phones, fax machines and all wireless devices.
Quiet end and later confessions:
Hedy Lamarr died on January 19, 2000 in Florida. Following her wish, her son Anthony took his mother's ashes to Austria, and scattered them in the Vienna Woods.
After the death of Hedy Lamar, the world began to realize her importance. Today, it is increasingly recognized not only in the context of the history of cinema, but also ingenuity in the field of science.
Beginning in 2005, Europe celebrates International Inventors' Day on her birthday, in honor of Hedy Lamarr.
Since 2018, the city of Vienna has been awarding young scientists with an award named Hedy Lamarr.
Na zalost, uglavnom, ljudi pocnu da cene vredne i talentovane ljude onda kada ih vise nema... Dodelju im razna priznanja, ali kome dodeljuju kada njih vise nema?