Hedy, not Hedley, LaMarr's birthday is today!

Seductive

Hedy Lamarr. The name hardly registers a blip on the all-time-great-movie star radar, but there was a time, in the late 30's and early 40's of the 20th century, when she was considered one of the most beautiful woman in the movies. Probably best remembered as Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's 1949's camp epic Samson & Delilah, Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna on November 9, 1913. Married at 19 to Friedrich Mandl, a manufacturer 13 years her senior, she described him as a controlling man who would not let her pursue her acting ambition. By the time of her marriage to Mandl, Lamarr had already appeared in Ecstasy in which her character was featured in close-up having an orgasm and photographed  fully nude skinny dipping. By 1937 Lamarr's marriage to Mandl was kaput [ none of her 6 husbands had staying power, so it seems, the longest lasting 7 years ].

Topless in 1933's Ecstasy

Escaping Nazi Germany, Hedy made her way first to Paris, then to London where she caught the wandering eye of Louis B.Mayer of Metro Goldwyn Mayer fame. Mayer put her under contract and changed her name from Kiesler to Lamarr, after silent film actress Barbara [ Too Beautiful ] LaMarr. Her American film debut was 1938's Algiers opposite French heartthrob Charles Boyer as Pepe LeMoko in which in uttered the immortal line "Come with me to the Casbah", which per wikipedia, was said in the film's trailer but not in the film proper. A major success in it's day, Algiers went a long way in helping establish Hedy with American audiences, a good thing because her follow ups, I Take This Woman with Spencer Tracy [ dubbed I Re-Take This Woman, after so many starts, stops and changes of director ] and Lady of the Tropics with Robert Taylor both bombed. However, Boom Town with Clark Gable, Tracy and Claudette Colbert was a huge moneyspinner and 1942's Crossroads co-starring William Powell was well recieved and the extravagant musical Ziegfeld Girl [ Lamarr was one of several of Ziggy's Girls including Judy Garland and Lana Turner ] was a blockbuster.

"A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody": Ziegfeld Girl with Judy and Lana, lower right,  1941

But if there is one standout film it would have to be Samson & Delilah, in which Lamarr portrays one of the wickedest women of the bible. It's $11 million dollar gross made it the most successful film of 1950 and came at a time when Lamarr's career was in real need of a boost. Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner and several others were considered for the part. C.B.DeMille's first epic bible film since 1932's Sign of the Cross, Burt Lancaster was the first choice for Samson but the role ultimately went to Victor Mature.

As the wicked, sexy Delilah, 1949

As the 50's progressed Lamarr's films became less and less successful. In fact she would make only 6 more movies after Samson with 1958's The Female Animal representing her farewell to the screen. In 1966 Lamarr made headlines when she was arrested for shoplifting in Los Angeles. The charges were dropped. 1967 brought her autobiography Ecstasy and Me and an attempt at a comeback on the silver screen with Picture Mommy Dead, in a part eventually played by Zsa Zsa Gabor. The talented Miss Lamarr was also an inventor. With composer George Antheil, Lamarr invented " frequency-hopping ", which is necessary for wireless communications.

"I am Tondelayo". 1942's White Cargo

By the 1970's Hedy Lamarr became reclusive and about the only news worthy item was the lawsuit for invasion of privacy brought on by Mel Brooks' movie Blazing Saddles in which one of the main characters played by Harvey Korman was named Hedley Lamarr but almost everyone in the film, at one point or other, call him Hedy. The real Hedy Lamarr died in Casselberry, Florida in 2000 at the age of 86.

"Go do that voodoo that you do so well". Harvey Korman as Hedley.