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Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film
Hedy Lamarr's life was punctuated by salacious rumors and public scandal, but it was her stunning looks and classic Hollywood glamour that continuously captivated audiences. Born Hedwig Kiesler, she escaped an unhappy marriage with arms dealer Fritz Mandl in Austria to try her luck in Hollywood, where her striking appearance made her a screen legend. Her notorious nude role in the erotic Czech film Ecstasy (1933), as well as her work with Cecil B. DeMille (Samson and Delilah, 1949), Walter Wanger (Algiers, 1938), and studio executive Louis B. Mayer catapulted her alluring and provocative reputation as a high-profile sex symbol.
In Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film, Ruth Barton explores the many facets of the screen legend, including her life as an inventor. Working with avant-garde composer and film scorer George Antheil, Lamarr helped to develop and patent spread spectrum technology, which is still used in mobile phone communication. However, despite her screen persona and scientific success, Lamarr's personal life caused quite a scandal. A string of failed marriages, a lawsuit against her publisher regarding her sensational autobiography, and shoplifting charges made her infamous beyond her celebrity.
Drawing on extensive research into both the recorded truths of Lamarr's life and the rumors that made her notorious, Barton recognizes Lamarr's contributions to both film and technology while revealing the controversial and conflicted woman underneath. Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film illuminates the life of a classic Hollywood icon.
In Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film, Ruth Barton explores the many facets of the screen legend, including her life as an inventor. Working with avant-garde composer and film scorer George Antheil, Lamarr helped to develop and patent spread spectrum technology, which is still used in mobile phone communication. However, despite her screen persona and scientific success, Lamarr's personal life caused quite a scandal. A string of failed marriages, a lawsuit against her publisher regarding her sensational autobiography, and shoplifting charges made her infamous beyond her celebrity.
Drawing on extensive research into both the recorded truths of Lamarr's life and the rumors that made her notorious, Barton recognizes Lamarr's contributions to both film and technology while revealing the controversial and conflicted woman underneath. Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film illuminates the life of a classic Hollywood icon.
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 29, 2022
Incredible this was written and published in the 21st century, by a woman no less, given that it reuses the same language of Old Hollywood and, indeed, the last century in order to weave Lamarr's biography, perpetuating out-of-date ideas about women as well as unfair criticism towards them for either loving life or growing old or not being absolutely predictable homemakers.
However, first its quality as the story of Lamarr's life. This biography is a sequence of events, but you come away feeling like you still don't know who Hedy Lamarr was. Given that she was only a so-so actress, the long passages about her movie roles feel like obligatory inclusions, while her role as an inventor is treated as an aside. Okay, so maybe hard facts about Lamarr's life are hard to come by, but does that justify its flat, patchwork treatment of her as a person?
The language of this book and its prurient fixation on other people's obsession over Lamarr's sexuality does not belong in the 21st century--let along in a book by a woman about a woman (who, you would assume, the writer found interesting and who she admired--enough to write a book about her!). Just one example: men are, unless to avoid ambiguity, referred to by their last name, while women are typically referred to by their first. It's unclear why the book couldn't have been written from the perspective and language of today--Lamarr was no "dame," but a working actress, businesswoman, and inventor. It's frustrating how much attention is paid to the scandals surrounding Lamarr and the moralizing that occurs about her plastic surgery, her reaction to being an aging actress in an even less forgiving time, her later-life "instability," her attempts to psychologically reason out her life by looking at problems in her childhood. At one point, after another section about Lamarr's sexual life, the writer says, "it would be simplistic, however, simply to describe her as a nymphomaniac." No shit--you'd have to be a qualified mental health specialist and even then you'd have to be careful. At least Barton never called her "hysterical," though it would not have been a surprise.
But let's back up. Lamarr's inventions are little more than a footnote in this biography. We are given no information about how she came to be an inventor or what her qualifications were in order to conceptualize the devices she patented, even with help. While we are not surprised that a female star of Old Hollywood might have more tricks up her sleeve than posing for photos and faking on-screen orgasms, Barton does little to create the backdrop of evidence for Lamarr's participation in the creation of her patented invention. Simply being married to an ammunitions mogul in her early life would not have given her the expertise--so where or how did she gain it?
Lamarr lived in a time (where those making the rules considered blackface, but not affairs, okay on film) different from our own, and it's a shame that this book judges her often by the standards of those times. Sure, shaming over plastic surgery and aging still occurs, but Lamarr should be celebrated for doing her own thing, being in control of her sexuality, and attempting to make a mark on a world that only valued her for her looks. Today, she could have done more. But in the last century, she could have done much, much less.
However, first its quality as the story of Lamarr's life. This biography is a sequence of events, but you come away feeling like you still don't know who Hedy Lamarr was. Given that she was only a so-so actress, the long passages about her movie roles feel like obligatory inclusions, while her role as an inventor is treated as an aside. Okay, so maybe hard facts about Lamarr's life are hard to come by, but does that justify its flat, patchwork treatment of her as a person?
The language of this book and its prurient fixation on other people's obsession over Lamarr's sexuality does not belong in the 21st century--let along in a book by a woman about a woman (who, you would assume, the writer found interesting and who she admired--enough to write a book about her!). Just one example: men are, unless to avoid ambiguity, referred to by their last name, while women are typically referred to by their first. It's unclear why the book couldn't have been written from the perspective and language of today--Lamarr was no "dame," but a working actress, businesswoman, and inventor. It's frustrating how much attention is paid to the scandals surrounding Lamarr and the moralizing that occurs about her plastic surgery, her reaction to being an aging actress in an even less forgiving time, her later-life "instability," her attempts to psychologically reason out her life by looking at problems in her childhood. At one point, after another section about Lamarr's sexual life, the writer says, "it would be simplistic, however, simply to describe her as a nymphomaniac." No shit--you'd have to be a qualified mental health specialist and even then you'd have to be careful. At least Barton never called her "hysterical," though it would not have been a surprise.
But let's back up. Lamarr's inventions are little more than a footnote in this biography. We are given no information about how she came to be an inventor or what her qualifications were in order to conceptualize the devices she patented, even with help. While we are not surprised that a female star of Old Hollywood might have more tricks up her sleeve than posing for photos and faking on-screen orgasms, Barton does little to create the backdrop of evidence for Lamarr's participation in the creation of her patented invention. Simply being married to an ammunitions mogul in her early life would not have given her the expertise--so where or how did she gain it?
Lamarr lived in a time (where those making the rules considered blackface, but not affairs, okay on film) different from our own, and it's a shame that this book judges her often by the standards of those times. Sure, shaming over plastic surgery and aging still occurs, but Lamarr should be celebrated for doing her own thing, being in control of her sexuality, and attempting to make a mark on a world that only valued her for her looks. Today, she could have done more. But in the last century, she could have done much, much less.
December 6, 2023
The flat writing of this book doesn’t do justice to this fascinating woman. Lots of interesting factoids about films of that era, but they’re dragged down with way too much detail on specific films.
June 15, 2025
I was excited to read about Hedy Lamarr after watching the documentary Bombshell about her. But this book was not what I was expecting. I am fascinated by her inventing and what she thought. I've never seen any of her movies but her story was interesting that she was a glamorous actress during golden age of Hollywood. The people she rubbed elbows with like Howard Hughes and such but I wanted to know more about the other side of her life. This book though was disappointing because of all the name dropping (I didn't know most of the names, the rumors and just writing about each movie. Even if I knew anything about the movies, I wouldn't need to read all the details about them in a book because I would already know it. But I didn't know the movies or the books the movies were based on so I had no reference at all. Then there is mention of other people who Hedy worked with that would then go on about who they were married to or hooked up with and it was multiple sentences about them instead of Hedy. There were long chapters at the beginning of her life but then the end of her life was so quick and over. It was such a quick and undetailed mention of when she was working on her inventions that it was too quickly. I wanted to know so much more. The weird quick mentions of a bunch of court cases at the end of the book didn't make sense. There was way too many mentions of her autobiography that I feel like I should have just read that instead of this one.
Overall I just wanted to finish the book so I could look up information online to confirm or deny situations in the book but all the mentions of all the other people I feel like the author just wanted to name drop. How many names could the author list with no real purpose. I didn't care who Lamarr hooked up with that later would go on to marry so and so. There was a mention of a story about Zsa Zsa Gabor that really could have been left out because I'm still scratching my head to why that was ever added and if it even happened.
Overall I just wanted to finish the book so I could look up information online to confirm or deny situations in the book but all the mentions of all the other people I feel like the author just wanted to name drop. How many names could the author list with no real purpose. I didn't care who Lamarr hooked up with that later would go on to marry so and so. There was a mention of a story about Zsa Zsa Gabor that really could have been left out because I'm still scratching my head to why that was ever added and if it even happened.
May 24, 2021
I wanted to learn more about this fabulous woman. And I did. I'm not sure I believe everything I read but . . .she had a very interesting and adventurous life, and in spite of all the problems she had a very long life!
April 23, 2022
I couldn't finish. The writing is so cold, it makes me disinterested in Hedy, and I don't get to know her the person better.
October 23, 2022
Hedy is echt een girlboss!!
Ik heb dit boek iets van 5 keer gelezen…
Ik heb dit boek iets van 5 keer gelezen…
September 21, 2018
Okay, why write a book about someone if you sound like you obviously don't like them? I mean really!! This lady makes Hedy sound like a flippant, shallow money grubbing hoar who was a manipulative prima donna. Hey, maybe she was, but they author sure as heck doesn't give me an objective perspective to make up my own mind with the facts. This book is skewed throughout with often subtle, but when you look at it, very definite opinions about Hedy's lifestyle. As such the book is ruined by this biased point of view and makes it hard to accept anything the author says at face value.
November 12, 2025
Fascinating history of a forgotten stat
With Barton paints a picture of a unique human being -an intelligent, strong woman ahead of her time. This is not a sensationalist book, but one written with clarity, compassion and wit. You can learn a lot from this book and the travails women faced in the "Dream Factory". Highly recommended.
With Barton paints a picture of a unique human being -an intelligent, strong woman ahead of her time. This is not a sensationalist book, but one written with clarity, compassion and wit. You can learn a lot from this book and the travails women faced in the "Dream Factory". Highly recommended.
August 23, 2019
A sordid tale of stardom, science, and lawsuits.
August 28, 2023
I’m afraid I thought this book kind of dull reading.
May 7, 2024
A very interesting biography of the life of Hedy Lamarr. It was very brief and didn't share much that a person familiar with her wouldn't know.
February 3, 2012
Hedy Lamarr would never be on anyone's list of great Hollywood actresses. Rather, the superlatives that apply to her are for her renowned beauty and, since the 1990s, her sharp intelligence and scientific mind. The latter is proven by the patent she took out on a "Secret Communication System" she invented with her partner, George Antheil, a composer and concert pianist. Their invention of a radio-controlled torpedo-guidance system was meant to be utilized against German submarines during World War II. Though the U.S. government never used it, Hedy's and Antheil's invention successfully utilized sound spectrum technology which I don't pretend to grasp though I understand it is the basis for cellular telecommunications. In her heyday, producers, directors and fans could see no further than Hedy's beauty, however, and her career was on the rocks by middle age as her beauty began to fade.
Born Hedwig Kiesler to wealthy Jewish parents in pre-World War II Vienna, Hedy as a young film actress was persuaded to appear nude in ECSTACY, a Czech art film quite mild by today's standards, which, however, has never totally lost its aura of scandal. As such it was always a blessing and a curse for her career. It served to open the way to Hollywood, where she ended up after first marrying a very unlovable and controlling Austrian industrialist, Fritz Mandl, who did business with Nazi Germany. Hedy slipped out of the mansion where she was essentially a kept woman to flee both a loveless marriage and the unfolding Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Austria. Although a privileged one feted by the movie colony in Hollywood, Hedy was essentially a Jewish refugee running for her life.
Her heyday in Tinsel Town was in the 1940s, with popular roles in movies such as ALGIERS, ZIEGFIELD GIRL, BOOM TOWN (appearing with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Claudette Colbert), TORTILLA FLAT, H.M. PULLHAM, ESQ. (considered her best film role by many) and the 1950 blockbuster SAMSON AND DELILAH, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Few in Hollywood realized that Hedy's strong point as an actress was playing light comedy roles, because great beauty was not associated with being funny in that era of film. Louis B. Mayer, the studio head of MGM, almost ruined her career by casting her in the overheated, steamy WHITE CARGO in which she appeared clad only in a sarong and made up as a dark-skinned "native" woman, her ivory complexion totally covered by muddy colored greasepaint. Her real life role as an "exotic" immigrant was oft played upon and in this case abused. Despite all, Hedy won many friends in the movie colony during those years and worked tirelessly selling war bonds and entertaining servicemen in her earnest support of the fight against the Axis powers.
In keeping with Hollywood's penchant for casually discarding aging actresses, her career was on the skids by the mid-1950s. Without finding true equilibrium in the U.S., ever longing for the lost Vienna of her youth, she became troubled and unhappy. She married five more times, often behaved in an unloving manner towards her children (as her own parents had behaved towards her growing up), and played the listless diva lying supine on movie sets while ordering people around in her increasingly infrequent movie roles. She was caught shoplifting several times as money began to dry up, and engaged in endless litigation, which almost became a second hobby along with her painting. Then, in a bid to restore her prominence in the public limelight, Hedy wrote a sordid autobiography called ECSTACY AND ME along with a ghost writer that further trashed her image and led to new lawsuits, though it sold briskly. She became something of a recluse in later years, living in poverty (though in reality she was never as poor as she claimed to be) with income partly coming from successful lawsuits that she pumped into plastic surgery, which she hoped would help her recover her beauty and revive her career.
In her final years her overall good relationship with her two natural children were pluses along with the retention of her ever sharp mind throughout her senior years. She was once again a wealthy woman by the end of her life due to a successful lawsuit regarding a patent violation of her invention that earned her millions and at last established her reputation as a brilliant inventor. Hedy herself always said that men could never see beyond her great beauty because they were frightened by intelligent women. The biography is well enough written, though it's heavy going at times especially the downhill ride, sometimes bordering on tedious. A competing biography is BEAUTY: THE LIFE OF HEDY LAMARR, which is likely the better of the two books, I venture to say after reading some passages in the latter. I predict people will remember Hedy Kiesler in the future as much for her invention as for being "the most beautiful woman in film." For movie fans like me anyway there will always be those celluloid memories of the Austrian beauty on TCM.
Born Hedwig Kiesler to wealthy Jewish parents in pre-World War II Vienna, Hedy as a young film actress was persuaded to appear nude in ECSTACY, a Czech art film quite mild by today's standards, which, however, has never totally lost its aura of scandal. As such it was always a blessing and a curse for her career. It served to open the way to Hollywood, where she ended up after first marrying a very unlovable and controlling Austrian industrialist, Fritz Mandl, who did business with Nazi Germany. Hedy slipped out of the mansion where she was essentially a kept woman to flee both a loveless marriage and the unfolding Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Austria. Although a privileged one feted by the movie colony in Hollywood, Hedy was essentially a Jewish refugee running for her life.
Her heyday in Tinsel Town was in the 1940s, with popular roles in movies such as ALGIERS, ZIEGFIELD GIRL, BOOM TOWN (appearing with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and Claudette Colbert), TORTILLA FLAT, H.M. PULLHAM, ESQ. (considered her best film role by many) and the 1950 blockbuster SAMSON AND DELILAH, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Few in Hollywood realized that Hedy's strong point as an actress was playing light comedy roles, because great beauty was not associated with being funny in that era of film. Louis B. Mayer, the studio head of MGM, almost ruined her career by casting her in the overheated, steamy WHITE CARGO in which she appeared clad only in a sarong and made up as a dark-skinned "native" woman, her ivory complexion totally covered by muddy colored greasepaint. Her real life role as an "exotic" immigrant was oft played upon and in this case abused. Despite all, Hedy won many friends in the movie colony during those years and worked tirelessly selling war bonds and entertaining servicemen in her earnest support of the fight against the Axis powers.
In keeping with Hollywood's penchant for casually discarding aging actresses, her career was on the skids by the mid-1950s. Without finding true equilibrium in the U.S., ever longing for the lost Vienna of her youth, she became troubled and unhappy. She married five more times, often behaved in an unloving manner towards her children (as her own parents had behaved towards her growing up), and played the listless diva lying supine on movie sets while ordering people around in her increasingly infrequent movie roles. She was caught shoplifting several times as money began to dry up, and engaged in endless litigation, which almost became a second hobby along with her painting. Then, in a bid to restore her prominence in the public limelight, Hedy wrote a sordid autobiography called ECSTACY AND ME along with a ghost writer that further trashed her image and led to new lawsuits, though it sold briskly. She became something of a recluse in later years, living in poverty (though in reality she was never as poor as she claimed to be) with income partly coming from successful lawsuits that she pumped into plastic surgery, which she hoped would help her recover her beauty and revive her career.
In her final years her overall good relationship with her two natural children were pluses along with the retention of her ever sharp mind throughout her senior years. She was once again a wealthy woman by the end of her life due to a successful lawsuit regarding a patent violation of her invention that earned her millions and at last established her reputation as a brilliant inventor. Hedy herself always said that men could never see beyond her great beauty because they were frightened by intelligent women. The biography is well enough written, though it's heavy going at times especially the downhill ride, sometimes bordering on tedious. A competing biography is BEAUTY: THE LIFE OF HEDY LAMARR, which is likely the better of the two books, I venture to say after reading some passages in the latter. I predict people will remember Hedy Kiesler in the future as much for her invention as for being "the most beautiful woman in film." For movie fans like me anyway there will always be those celluloid memories of the Austrian beauty on TCM.
July 11, 2015
I was motivated to read this book for 2 reasons: 1. I had become fascinated by the whole part of her inventor life and hoped to learn more details than Wikopedia; and 2. I was curious as to her list of Hollywood lovers as I'd read she had many.
So, I can say the book was a pleasant read and I did indeed learn more about those two topics. But as interesting as the patent that was the precursor to CDMA, the rest of Hedy's life was a bit of a disappointment to me.
There are a good handful of Hedy biographies to choose from and this one was the most well-regarded. I've ordered Hedy's alledged autobio "Ectasy and Me" and now am hoping I'm still interested, since I've since discovered she does not even cover the patent. (I hear it's quite sex-alacious, tho, haha).
If you are looking for a Golden Age Hollywierd bio that's a quick and interesting read, this qualifies. If you find you like Hedy more than I did, you might think more highly of it.
So, I can say the book was a pleasant read and I did indeed learn more about those two topics. But as interesting as the patent that was the precursor to CDMA, the rest of Hedy's life was a bit of a disappointment to me.
There are a good handful of Hedy biographies to choose from and this one was the most well-regarded. I've ordered Hedy's alledged autobio "Ectasy and Me" and now am hoping I'm still interested, since I've since discovered she does not even cover the patent. (I hear it's quite sex-alacious, tho, haha).
If you are looking for a Golden Age Hollywierd bio that's a quick and interesting read, this qualifies. If you find you like Hedy more than I did, you might think more highly of it.
Want to read
February 10, 2011Looking forward to borrowing this from the Esplanade library - first saw her in Samson and Delilah at a cinema in Toa Payoh - how can anyone be so beautiful - just not fair. She led a scandalous life before she became a big star, and after she retired. Anyway, I love biographies cause it gives insight about the lives of people -why they did the things they did, and perhaps some life lesson I could pick up.
June 6, 2011
Good book, Ruth Barton did an excellent job giving an overview of Hedy's life. Bless her heart, Hedy had a tough time with being exiled and people not taking her seriously. Too smart for her own good.
August 11, 2010
This was extremely well-written, very readable. My only complaint is that the author got some easy to find facts wrong. That was a little careless. For the most part, well done.
August 4, 2012
Good biography of a fascinating woman
March 8, 2016
Brains and beauty. Inventor and actress. Oh, and the first ever orgasm on the big screen.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews