Hedy Lamarr.
In 1933 a young Austrian woman undressed for a movie camera.
She ran naked through a forest.
She swam naked in a lake.
The world was astonished.
The film was called Ecstasy.
And its beautiful and scandalous protagonist was Hedwig Kiesler.
While King Kong dominated the box office, she was the talk of the town.
Louis B. Mayer a powerful Hollywood producer called her the most beautiful woman in the world.
The film was censored in half of Europe and for that it became legendary.
It’s said that Mussolini refused to sell his copy at any price.
But Hedwig wasn’t just beauty.
Behind those enchanting eyes was a sharp intelligence.
Her secret, she once said, was “to stand still and look stupid.
And while the world gazed at her like a dream object she memorized weapons plans formulas.
At the time she was married to Friedrich Mandl a wealthy arms manufacturer and supplier to the Nazi regime.
He took her with him to banquets with Hitler and Mussolini as a show off.
She, a Jew, hated that world.
And when she dared to rebel her husband locked her away in the family castle.
In 1937 she escaped.
She sedated her maid, disguised herself in her clothes, sold her jewelry, and fled to London.
It was the beginning of a new life.
There she met Mayer again. They signed a contract, and a star was born: Hedy Lamarr.
In just a few years, she became a cinema icon.
She starred alongside Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and Bob Hope.
Seven consecutive blockbusters.
But deep down, Hedy’s heart was still at war.
In 1942, in the midst of World War II, Hedy invented a secret communications system.
A revolutionary idea to prevent the radio-controlled signals of bombs and torpedoes from being intercepted.
A technology designed to kill Nazis.
To ensure every weapon hit its target.
The same technology that, years later, would become the basis for Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth.
Many don’t know who Hedwig Kiesler was.
Few remember Hedy Markey, her real name.
But the whole world knew Hedy Lamarr, the Hollywood diva.
And no one can imagine that the woman who enchanted the screen
also had the brain of an inventor
and the heart of a warrior.
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