If she was alive, I bet she would have loved the movie HIDDEN FIGURES -- especially the real-life character played by Taraji P. Henson. I just had to share this while it's still posted. I believe it's from cable's GetTV, a network that features vintage TV series, talk shows and such. Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian actress who swam nude in a dramatic 1933 European film called ECSTASY. She was discovered, came to America and signed with MGM Studios in Hollywood. The beauty was a very popular box office star at MGM in the 1940s. Hedy Lamarr was stunning and starred opposite some of the studio's top male stars such as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart and William Powell.
In a move typical of Hollywood at that time, she was covered with "exotic" make-up and cast as a Congo vamp in the story of adventure in Africa called WHITE CARGO. Yes, the Austrian immigrant played a Congo seductress named Tondelayo. But the movie was a big 1942 hit.
She was in 1941's ZIEGFELD GIRL with Judy Garland and Lana Turner...
...and, for Paramount in 1949, she starred in Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic SAMSON AND DELILAH with Victor Mature.
While Hollywood and moviegoers were struck by her sensational looks, very few were aware of her even more sensational brain. Now we know that Hedy Lamarr, during her glamour girl Hollywood heyday, was an inventor and technology pioneer. Her technology genius was unknown to Merv Griffin in 1969.
This excerpt is an example of why I would love to host a talk show again. Screen star Hedy Lamarr is Merv's guest -- along with...Woody Allen, Leslie Uggams and Moms Mabley. Yes...Jackie "Moms" Mabley. Thank you, Merv Griffin.
Hedy Lamarr...and Moms Mabley. I am so glad I found that vintage video online.
That was 1969. Come 1974, Harvey Korman would play Hedley Lamarr in BLAZING SADDLES.
Here's a short feature highlighting the technological brilliance of Hedy ... not Hedley ... Lamarr.
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