Hedy Lamarr

Austrian-American actress and co-inventor of an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping (1914-2000)

Fame69.8
Momentum4.5
Austria rank#33

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Fame69.8
Momentum4.5
Austria rank#33
Wikipedia163.6K

Lived 1914–2000, aged 86Austria

Austria

ActorsActor

Wikipedia
88 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Austria
#33
Actors
Era
1914–2000
Aged 86
Known for
Samson and Delilah
1949

Summary

Updated 2026-08-31

She played Delilah in one of Hollywood's biggest hits, but the radio guidance system she co-invented during the war — frequency-hopping, spread-spectrum tech — became foundational to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi decades later.

Biography

About

Born Hedwig Kiesler in Austria, she made early films in Czechoslovakia, including the erotic Ecstasy in 1933, then fled her first husband and slipped to Paris before landing in London. Louis B. Mayer offered her Hollywood, and she became a star with Algiers in 1938, followed by Boom Town, White Cargo, and the massive religious epic Samson and Delilah in 1949. At the start of World War II, she and composer George Antheil co-invented a Secret Communication System for Allied torpedoes — spread spectrum and frequency hopping designed to resist jamming by the Axis. The military didn't use similar t…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr

said1971

Is that chubby‐faced Austrian kid in Boom Town actually me?

— "Hubba, Hubba Hubba—It's Hedy!" (1971)

Hedy Lamarr

said1971

Ziegfeld Girl. When I see those infinite stairs in that lavish production number that out‐Metro's even Metro, I break up. The director, Robert Z.

— "Hubba, Hubba Hubba—It's Hedy!" (1971)

Hedy Lamarr

said1971

More stairs, only this time it's in Samson and Delilah. Now, I'm ascending them, dragging poor, blinded Victor Mature by the handle of a whip.

— "Hubba, Hubba Hubba—It's Hedy!" (1971)

Hedy Lamarr

said1970

Which director did I like? I've for gotten which. Some of them were not so nice. When somebody isn't accepted by me, it's complete hate.

— "Would You Believe I Was Once A Famous Star? It's the Truth!" (1970)

Hedy Lamarr

said1970

First he married Joan Bennett, then he married me, then he married Myrna Loy. I had a wonderful first love affair. I like men. Gene Markey was the only civilized man.

— "Would You Believe I Was Once A Famous Star? It's the Truth!" (1970)

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