The Most Beautiful Woman in The World

A Movie Star with Brains

Who would have believed this beautiful, talented movie star was a strong determined genius? In 1940’s she made movies with the likes of James Steward, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall and a host of others. She was called the most beautiful woman in the world, and was famous for saying, “Any girl can be glamorous, all you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” She wasn’t a party girl and she wasn’t doing exhibitions to promote her career. She was helping win the war against Germany and Japan.

Born Hedwig Kiesler into a well to do Viennese Jewish family in 1914, she quit high school at 16 to act on the stage and screen. Hedy Lamar went on to become one of America’s most beautiful and popular movie star celebrities. In 1940 while she acted in the musical as a Ziegfeld Girl, she spent all her spare time inventing a missile guidance system to help the U.S. Navy in World War two. Her invention perfected the missile’s range and target hits. Nobody knows for sure why Lamar was interested in Navy technology, but it’s a good guess that as a Jewish woman her hatred of the system in Germany and other countries of obliterating the Jews was a primary factor.

Where Hedy Lamar gained her knowledge of technology isn’t clear but she was married to movie mogul Fritz Mandl at a very young age. Mandl threw huge parties where friends invited were scientists, generals and other noted people. They particularly loved bragging to Lamar about their advances in the missile technology. Evidently she picked up a great deal of information from them and put it to good use.

Hedy Lamar also set up a secret communication system with friend, George Antheil. They received a patent in 1942. Years later American scientists repurposed and renamed the technology and used it to create cell phones, GPS, and Wi-Fi. You might say that without Hedy Lamar, we could have lost the war and there would be no cell phones, or any of the new technology we have today. Helping win the war and making new technology possible, I’d say that’s a feather in the cap of a lady we thought was the average bubble headed celebrity, and whose friends say couldn’t spell worth a heck.