Discovered by Max Reinhardt, Hedy Kiesler appeared in Austro-German films beginning in 1930 before creating a worldwide sensation with a 10-minute sequence in Gustav Machaty's 1933 Czech film "Extase/Ecstasy" that featured the alluring actress completely nude. Shortly after, she married Austrian munitions magnate Fritz Mandl who attempted to buy up all existing prints of the film, but their divorce put an end to his mission, enabling the film to be released again and again the world over. She moved to the USA in 1938 and signed with Louis B. Mayer who changed her name to Hedy Lamarr in honor of the deceased actress Barbara LaMarr. Her American debut was on loan to Walter Wanger (United Artists) in John Cromwell's "Algiers" (1938), and MGM tried to capitalize on the success of that film with Jack Conway's inferior "Lady of the Tropics" (1939).
Billed as the world's most beautiful woman, Lamarr offered little beyond her exotic looks to a host of productions, mostly at MGM. Frequently typecast as a woman of mystery, the dark and lovely actress did not create a stir at the box office and was also difficult to please, rejecting the star-making parts in "Casablanca" and "Gaslight" that would make Ingrid Bergman a household name. When her contract lapsed at MGM, she worked at other studios, but her career was in serious decline when Cecil B. DeMille cast her as the Biblical temptress in "Samson and Delilah" (1949), her most commercially successful film and the only real evidence that she could convey the promise of sex on the screen. It did not revive her career, however, and after starring opposite Bob Hope in "My Favorite Spy" (1951), she left Hollywood for Europe and did not act again in America until "The Story of Mankind" (1957), followed by her last feature for nearly twenty years, "The Female Animal" (1958).
Lamarr would make only one more movie, playing the role of a Movie Goddess in "Instant Karma" (1990), a parody of life in the TV production grind. She made headlines after being arrested on a shoplifting charge in 1965 and again for the same offense in 1991. Her autobiography, "Ecstasy and Me" (1966), was a deliberate attempt to revive her notoriety, but in such bad taste that she later sued her ghostwriters for misrepresentation. Married six times, her second husband was writer Gene Markey (1939-40) and her third actor John Loder (1943-47), with whom she had two children. Lamarr's inability to register emotion on camera doomed her film career, but her undeniable good looks allowed her to be a reasonably convincing femme fatale. She never appeared more beautiful than in the woodland idyll of "Extase/Ecstasy" and that image sustained her for quite awhile and remains her screen legacy.
Family
SON: James Lamarr. Adopted by Lamarr and Gene Markey; later adopted by John Loder; claims to be Lamarr's natural child via a birth certificate filed in 1939 16 days after his birth that lists Lamarr as his mother; contested her will.
DAUGHTER: Denise Deluca. Father John Loder.
SON: Anthony Loder.
Companion
HUSBAND: Fritz Mandl. Ammunitions tycoon. Austrian; married in 1933; divorced in 1937 after he decided to buy all the footage from the film "Ecstacy" because it featured Lamarr in the nude; also was a Nazi sympathizer.
COMPANION: Spencer Tracy. Actor. Reportedly began relationship in October 1938 during filming of "I Take This Woman"; ended in February 1939.
HUSBAND: Gene Markey. Writer. Second husband; married in March 1939; divorced in 1940.
COMPANION: Edward Norris. Actor. He was simultaneously involved with both Lamarr and Joan Crawford.
HUSBAND: John Loder. Actor. Third husband; married in 1943; divorced in 1947.
HUSBAND: Ted Stauffer. Band leader. Married in 1951; divorced in 1952.
HUSBAND: W Howard Lee. Married in 1953; divorced in 1960.
HUSBAND: Lewis J Boles. Married on March 4, 1963; separated on October 15, 1964; divorced; allegedly was abusive toward Lamarr.
Milestone
1930: First film appearance in bit role, Georg Jacoby's "Geld auf der Strasse (Austrian)
1933: Gained international attention when she appeared completely nude in a 10-minute sequence in Gustav Machaty's erotic romantic drama, "Extase/Ecstasy"
1937: Moved to USA; signed by Louis B. Mayer who changed her name to Lamarr in honor of deceased actress Barbara LaMarr
1938: Loaned out by Mayer to Walter Wanger (United Artists) and caused a sensation in her first Hollywood film, "Algiers"
1939: First film with MGM, "Lady of the Tropics"
1942: Received US patent for invention of a communications system that was a forerunner of spread spectrum communications
1945: Left MGM; last film there for six years, "Her Highness and the Bellboy"
1946 - 1947: Helped form a production company, Mars Film Corporation, which made two films, "The Strange Woman" and "Dishonored Lady", starring Lamarr
1949: Faltering career boosted by her appearance as the alluring temptress in her biggest box office success, Cecil B. DeMille's "Samson and Delilah"
1951: Last Hollywood film for six years, "My Favorite Spy", co-starring Bob Hope
1954: Reported she had been robbed of over $50,000 worth of jewelry; later found the missing jewelry in her home
1958: Last film for many years, "The Female Animal"
1965: Accused of shoplifting $86 pair of slippers from L.A. department store; acquitted
1966: Published ghosted autobiography "Ecstasy and Me"
1971: Fined for reporting a false rape charge
1990: One-shot return to films, "Instant Karma", in the role of Movie Goddess
1991: Arrested for shoplifting $21.48 worth of sundries from a drugstore in Casselberry, Florida (August 1)
1997: Honored for her invention of spread spectrum radio technology
Education
Max Reinhardt School - Berlin, Germany - the school was incorporated into The Berlin University of Arts in 1964
Lamarr and composer George Anthiel received a patent for an idea they had to aid the war effort. It was a "secret communications technique" that would allow for control of armed torpedoes over long distances without detection by an enemy or without jamming. The technology was a precursor of spread-spectrum communications that is utilized in such items as cellular phones and microprocessors. Lamarr and Antheil received a 1997 EFF Pioneer Award for their efforts.
Cecil B. Demille reportedly had trouble filming Lamarr because of her limited knowledge of English and inability to emote on screen: "The only consolation . . . was she was convincingly alluring and that she could be relied on to remember her lines." --Charles Higham in his book "Cecil B. DeMille" (from FILM DOPE, Volume 32)
Lamarr's revenge came years later in a FILMS IN REVIEW interview when she implied that DeMille lusted after her feet. --from FILM DOPE, Volume 32
"When I die," Lamarr once told a friend, summing up her devil-may-care life, "I want on my gravestone: 'Thank you very much for a colorful life.'" --From her obituary in LOS ANGELES TIMES, January 20, 2000
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