Bombshell “Films have a certain place in a certain time period, but technology is forever.” - Hedy Lamarr, movie star and inventor. The glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for 'Snow White’ and ‘Cat Woman’ invented a wireless form of communication called "frequency hopping" that revolutionised mobile communications all over the world. She was born Hedwig Kiesler (1913 — 2000) in Vienna to Jewish parents. From the first, she was interested in how things worked. Her father, a banker, explained to her how traffic signals and streetcars operated. At five, she took apart her music box to see how it made its tinkly sound — and then rebuilt it. She loved chemistry class. In 1929 Kiesler deserted her studies and strolled into a movie studio in Vienna. After working in a few German films and studying with theatre luminary Max Reinhardt (the first to name her the “Word’s Most Beautiful Woman”) Kiesler played the unfulfilled young bride in the Czech art film, ‘Ecstasy’ (1932). The role saw her both appear naked and feign orgasm on screen, two things that were unheard of in films in the early 1930s. The film earned her many prominent admirers. They included Fritz Mandl, an older munitions millionaire, for whom she became a trophy wife. Mandl forbade her to act, wanting her to charm his business associates. Bored by her hostess duties, she listened carefully to discussions about weaponry design. Reportedly Hitler and Mussolini were as charmed by her as she was repulsed by them. Later, Hitler would ban her films and denounce her as a decadent Jew. Sensing she had no future with Mandl — and the Jews none in Austria — she escaped both husband and homeland for London in 1937. She was 24. #chapeaulondon #chapeaublog #dedicatedtothethingswelove #wordsandpictures #amazing #london #lifestyle #hedylamarr #bombshellthehedylamarrstory #moviestar #icon #producer #inventor #frequencyhopping #hedwigkiesler #recluse #technology #film #documentary #alexandradean #susansarandon
