THINK CLASSIC: "Any girl can be glamorous.All you have to do is stand still and look stupid."-Hedy Lamarr

The month of February is always an interesting one around here because there is no pre-set Star of the Month to do a post about, so that usually means we have to get creative. Last year, we did a photo contest and the winner got to pick the star, which was Clint Eastwood. This year, we decided to just choose a star of our own accord who we find fascinating, beautiful, and most importantly, intelligent.

Hedy Lamarr

Born November 9, 1913

Died January 19, 2000

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, nicknamed "Hedy" since childhood, was an Austrian Jew born in 1913. She was the only child of highly intelligent parents Emil, who was a bank director, and Gertrud, a pianist. Growing up, Hedy had a much more musical bent, and she was formally trained in both ballet and piano.

When she was only 19 years old, Hedy married Friedrich Mandl, who was one of the wealthiest men in Austria and was a renowned munitions manufacturer. The marriage was never a happy one, Hedy even revealing later on that her husband was extremely controlling and domineering, constantly trying to keep her under his thumb, and keeping her from pursuing the acting career she desired. As WWII approached and gripped the heart of Austria, Hedy found herself in a delicate position. Her husband was building friendships with both Adolf Hitler and Mussolini, both of whom were frequent guests in their home.While Hedy took interest in the scientific meetings she attended with her husband, she was still in a dangerous position due to her Jewish heritage. She was exceedingly uncomfortable at these lavish parties and business dinners in the company of these politically powerful men. One night while preparing for a dinner party, Hedy convinced her bewildered husband to let her wear all of her most expensive and cherished jewelry pieces. He left her alone to finish preparing, during which time she covered herself in a maids costume and disappeared.

Hedy fled to Paris, hoping to find safety but knowing that it would not be so easy. Her husband followed her there, attempting to track her down. Years later she recounted her experience running away from him in the city. She found herself fleeing into the back entrance of a brothel in an attempt to evade him. He entered after her and began to search. Terrified, she ducked into a room and took over someone else's waiting customer in order to stay hidden. Eventually she managed to escape him once and for all. She fled to London where she met Louis B. Mayer, who unknowingly held her freedom. He was quite taken with her and decided to hire her. Together they worked on her image, including her name change. She went from Hedy Kiesler to Hedy Lamarr, taking the surname of a beautiful and successful actress of the silent era. And so, Hedy Lamarr moved to Hollywood.

Lamarr quickly formed friendships with those in high places, and she worked it to her advantage in order to boost her career. After attending a party where she met and charmed Charles Boyer, he specifically requested her as his costar in his upcoming film Algiers (1938). She recognized this debut as an important chance to prove herself, and her hard work paid off. She received very positive reviews upon the film's release. She quickly was cast in more film roles with some of the leading names of the day, from Spencer Tracy in Boom Town (1940), Clark Gable in Comrade X (1940), and John Garfield in Tortilla Flat (1942), to leading ladies such as Lana Turner and Judy Garland in Ziegfeld Girl (1941). She stayed strong in her career, reaching it's pinnacle in Samson and Delilah (1949), which was the highest grossing film of that year.

Lamarr's focus began to shift and her career began to slow in the 1950s. She became an American citizen in 1953. She also decided to put her interest and talent for science to use. Lamarr teamed up with George Antheil and together they developed a communication method for frequency hopping, which they even had patented. They offered their developments to the United States Navy, and the system was even used in by ships in the midst of a Cuban blockade in 1962. It was an important yet often overlooked development in spread-spectrum communication technology, without which we would have had much more difficulty in the development of such things as Bluetooth or Wifi.

Having finally acquired a divorce from her first husband in 1937, she married Gene Markey in 1939, with whom she adopted a son. Their marriage lasted for 3 years. She then married John Loder in 1943, with whom she had one daughter and one son. By the time she officially retired from film in 1958, Lamarr had starred in 34 motion pictures. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her achievements, and she was honored for her scientific work in communications in 1997 when she was given an award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Hedy Lamarr died on January 19, 2000 from natural causes at the age of 86. As she had requested, her children spread her ashes in the Vienna Woods in Austria.