Research Paper on Hedy Lamarr: Actress, Inventor and Pioneering Tech Visionary

Introduction

Originally named Hedwig Eva Kesler, Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress and later inventor. Lamar, born in Vienna, Austria, on November 9th, 1914, into an accomplished Jewish family, is widely known for her big-screen appearances in White Cargo, Samson, and Delila, amongst other films. Her natural beauty and talent made her one of the most noticeable actresses during her time. She enjoys accreditation with pioneering the technology is today used as the foundation of GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth systems. Society, however, then and now, seems to have relegated Lamar's contribution to technology to the history books and celebrated people who improved on her technology and not her. Irrespective of that, Hedy Lamar stands as a true testament to the phrase "beauty and brains."

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Early Life

Hedy's father, an established banker, and curios man, is said to have often inspired his daughter to view the world through different angles. Lamar would often be taken for walks by her father, who was not shy about introducing his daughter to the mechanical world of how different machines worked. From streetcars to complicated printers at the local printing press, Lamar's father showed it all to the curious young lady. Lamar picked up the curiosity in machines, and at a tender age of 5 years, she is said to have dismantled an attempted to reassemble many things in the Jewish household, including her music box. Lamarr furthers that the curious nature of her father became infectious, and the then Young Hedy Lamar picked up on this trait that she carried well into her teenage years. On the flip-side, Lamarr's mother, a career pianist, introduced her to the world of arts. She gave her daughter access to different areas of the art world, where Lamar finally found her place in piano and ballet, where she blossomed at her young age.

An Austrian by birth, she, in the end, moved to America after meeting Louis, the head of MGM. Louis offered her an acting contract in Hollywood. As an extremely impressive and skilled woman, she settled herself as one of the most searched on-screen characters in Hollywood. On account of her sex appeal, she was perpetually found as the captivating actress and showed up inverse the time's most well known driving men. Hedy Lamarr was no stupid magnificence; she was an exceptionally savvy and shrewd lady with an unmistakable fascination for logical interests (Barton n.p). Alongside the arranger George Antheil, she co-engineered the innovation for spread range and recurrence bouncing interchanges yet did not get prompt acknowledgment for this development. The relevance of the innovation was acknowledged decades later, and she was accepted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Acting Career

In the arts, Lamar's brilliance took backstage, and her beauty became the object of attraction. At age 16, she was taken up by Max Reinhardt, a director, who gave her the first role in her acting career as she studied acting as well. Her first debut was in the German-based film Money on the street (Geld auf der Strave), which aired in 1930. However, in 1932 is when Lamar's acting career took off. She was popular for her role in Ecstacy that aired in Czechoslovakia and was widely regarded by many as the most controversial film of the year. Ecstasy was a film whose plot was of a young lady whose husband was incapable of fathering children.

This made the lady seek companionship and sexual satisfaction from a younger man. Austin censors banned the film due to two scenes that were termed 'provocative' and 'immoral.' The first scene was showed Lamarr running nude through a sunlit forest, with the other scene being a sex scene, in which Lamarr is seen to experience an orgasm. In reality, however, the facial expression displayed by Lamarr was from director Gustav Machaty applying a safety pin to Lamarr's buttock. Lamarr defended herself from the backlash of the film by saying she was a naive, young and desperate actor that had been pressured into the scenes by the cameramen and director of the film. Cameraman Jan Stallich, however, refuted the claims and said in an interview with CineAction, that Lamarr, as the star of the film, was informed beforehand and knew that she would have to appear in the nude for some scenes. Lamarr is reported not to have complained about the role nor what is expected in the mentioned scenes.

When Lamarr entered Hollywood, she embraced her stage name and delivered her first Hollywood film, "Algiers," which was released in 1938. Lamarr had an effective profession in humour and was known as the loveliest lady in films. She composed a life account called Ecstasy and Me which narrated her private life. She wedded her first spouse, Friedrich Mandl, a well off man from Austrian in 1933. Lamarr's collection of memoirs depicted her better half as a very controlling man who kept her from developing her acting passion (Lamarr n.p). She expressed the fact that she felt detained in their palace-like home where gatherings were held and where outstanding individuals like Hitler and Mussolini visited. Additionally, in her personal history, she expressed that she conceived an arrangement to get away from her controlling marriage by camouflaging herself as her house cleaner and afterward leaving for Paris, where she, in this manner, bloomed as an entertainer.

Marriage Life

As Hedy Lamar's fame grew, she soon caught the attention of Fritz Mandl, an Austrian munitions dealer. During this time, Lamar's fame had heightened due to her role in the movie Sissy. Mandl and Lamar's romance blossomed into a marriage in 1933. However, it was short-lived. From the testimony of her marriage, like Young (141) records, Lamar said that she felt pressure to choose between being an actress and a wife and added that Mandl completely controlled the marriage, and she felt like a doll. An object with no mind of its own. Lamar additionally stated that she was forced to play host to her husband's many friends and business associates while putting her career on hold. Some of Mandl's business partners were very uncouth people, with some having ties to the Nazi regime in Germany.

Lamarr in Hollywood

Ultimately, in 1937, Lamar left the troubled marriage and traveled to London. Lamar was, however not oblivious during the meetings her husband had with his many associates; she learned the inner workings of the munitions world and took this knowledge with her to London. Her luck changed dramatically in London when she met the director of the famed MGM studios Louis Mayer. Mayer became Lamar's gateway to Hollywood, where she quickly became famous amongst the American viewership.

In Hollywood, the now-famous actress soared high in the circles of who's-who. Her beauty, accent, and grace differentiated her significantly from other actresses of her time. With her newfound identity and career in America, Lamar met many personalities. Of note, however, is pilot and businessman Howard Hughes. Lamar's scientific side began to blossom with her new relationship with Hughes. The pilot is said to have stimulated Lamar's love for science and technology, contrary to how it had been bottled up by her previous husband and Hollywood. Hughes was instrumental in rejuvenating the actress's innovative side by giving her equipment that she set up in her small set.

While on breaks, Lamarr would work on the different ideas she had in mind. Additionally, Hughes took Lamarr to airplane manufacturing factories, and there, she met the different engineers and professionals that made the planes. Hughes, at the time, was interested in creating faster planes that he would then sell to the U.S. military. Lamarr took this opportunity to buy books on birds and fish, where she intensely studied the fastest ones and came up with blueprints for airplanes that would fulfill Hughe's dream of manufacturing faster planes. Hughes, on seeing the sketches, was awed at the genius of the actress. Quite so that he said to her, "You're a genius."

Lamarr the Innovator

As the cogs in Lamarr's innovative mind continued to turn, she developed an upgraded stop-light that could be used in traffic control and a water-soluble tablet that produced a drink close to Coca-Cola. "Improving things comes naturally to me," Said Lamarr in an interview that sought to establish how she balanced both acting and being an inventor, two very different fields. Lamarr's genius, however, did not hit the limelight until the start of World War II, when the U.S.

was gearing to enter the conflict. In 1940, the famed actress met George Antheil, a clever and quirky individual, known for his film scores, writing and experimental music propositions, found it easy to relate to the inventor/actress due to their shared interest.

Lamarr's and Antheil brainstormed a variety of ideas and inventions but finally settled on the warfare front as it posed more lucrative benefits, and both inventors wanted to contribute to the war effort. The two artisans were uncomfortable staying comfortably in Hollywood and making money while other Americans fought for the country. Using the know-how, she acquired from her husband's dealings in munitions as a foothold, Lamarr, and Antheil dived into the world of war and sought ideas on how they would help combat the axis powers. The two inventors dissected various weaponry and weapon systems, fervently looking to create an invention that would give America an edge over its enemies.

The two inventors finally invented an exemplary communications system that could be used in the targeting systems of torpedoes. The system was based on a 'frequency hopping' technology that involved the sender and receiver switching between various signal wavelengths to avoid enemy interception of the signals and in doing so, allows the torpedo to find its target accurately. Following the creation of their communication invention, the two inventors sought to patent and support from the military to further improve on the invention. However, the U.S. Navy decided not to implement the invention in its infrastructure. The rejection did not deter Lamarr; she instead elected to support the military through her celebrity status that she used to sell war bonds. Later in 1953, Lamarr applied for and gained citizenship in the United States (Young 34).

Hedy's interest in the field of innovation was innate; it was more of a characteristic love, energy, which was developed by her father, who was a financier, yet cherished innovation himself. He would show her how things functioned, the trolley passing by, where the power originated from, and cherished her imagination, so she would get things done to intrigue him. She would dismantle a music box and assemble it back once more, and she just consistently had that sort of a psyche. During World War II, she created a communication system for the Allies. It was a protected radio sign that would enable Allied warships to control their torpedoes. The radio sign going from the ship to the torpedo would change frequencies as indicated by a convoluted code so the Germans could not trace the signal. It encouraged an advanced correspondence system that we use today. Hedy thought of this thought yet she did not have the least of an idea how to place it into a mechanical practice.

Awards Attained

Whereas she continued to gain popularity from the film industry until 1958, Lamarr got no appreciation or monetary gains from her patent that soon expired. It was in 1997 that the Electronic Frontier Foundation awarded both Antheil and Lamarr a pioneer award. Lamarr also received the Invention Convention's BulbieGnass Spirit of Achievement Award and was the first woman to do so. Lamarr was also inaugurated into the National Inventors Hall of Fame as recognition of her joint invention with Antheil on Frequency-hopping technology. To this day, scientists and other technology gurus...