Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)

The Hollywood star with a secret life

Hedy Lamarr is best known as a film actress of the 1930s and 40s who had major roles in both European and Hollywood films. What's less well known is she was an inventor and pioneer of electronic encryption technology.

How did she get the name Hedy?

Hedy was born Hedwig Eva Maria Keisler on 9 November 1914 into a wealthy family in Vienna, Austria. Her father was a banker and her mother was a pianist. As a teenager, she was discovered by Max Reinhardt, a theatrical director and producer who took her to acting school in Berlin.

She starred in her first film when she was 16 and two years later she gained a major role in the Czech film Extase where she did the first nude scene in mainstream cinema. This caused the film to be banned in many countries.

The notoriety quickly established Hedy as one of Europe's most in-demand actresses but there were other things on her mind. Hedy said: 'Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.'

What did she do outside of acting?

Hedy developed an interest in military technology after she married Fritz Mandl, a prominent Austrian arms dealer. She observed how remote-controlled torpedoes were designed but scientists couldn't perfect a failsafe signal system.

She came up with the idea of a device which could send a signal over several frequencies. The principle was that with the torpedo receiving instructions in several frequencies at once, the enemy could not jam the signal and the torpedo would strike its target.

Hedy went to work with the composer George Antheil to produce the actual device. They applied for the patent in 1941, just as the US was entering the war.

Even though the invention was never used in the war effort, the technology found another widespread application in peacetime. Today, modern communications rely on Hedy's cryptography system for security.

Was she happily married?

No. Mandl did not agree with Hedy's career choice and forbade her to act - he even tried to buy up every print of Extase.

Worse still, even though Hedy was Jewish, Mandl sided with the Nazis. After four years of marriage, Hedy drugged her maid, slipped out of the house and fled to London. There, she was signed up with MGM studios and moved to the US and changed her name to Hedy Lamarr.

She went on to become 'the most beautiful woman in films' and appeared in several classic films.

It was during her time with MGM that Hedy's patent for her signaling device came through but the studio hushed it up, believing it would not be good for her image.

Hedy pursued her acting career in Hollywood but became frustrated with only receiving decorative roles. She retired to Florida in the 1980s where she died in 2000.