Hedy Lamarr may not be as well-known an actress as Greta Garbo or Marilyn Monroe, but she made a more important contribution to society beyond her acting career. Lamarr had an acting career in Europe, which led her to the area of invention. She then moved to the USA, where she continued her acting career. There she collaborated with another person on an invention that would make a significant contribution to military and electronic technology. Hedy Lamarr was a lesser-known actress but a co-pioneer in the field of modern electronics communications.
Daniel Boustead explains.
Hedy Lamarr for the film Ziegfeld Girl in 1941. Available here.
Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, on November 9, 1914, to assimilated Jewish parents.[1] Hedy’s mother had converted to Roman Catholicism. Her mother was a concert pianist who encouraged her to pursue the arts. Lamarr’s acting and interest in inventions started then. It was after taking acting classes that Hedy appeared in the Austrian-German film Money on the Street in 1930. In 1933, she played Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the stage play Sissy in Vienna, earning praise and accolades from the critics.
In August 1933, Hedy married Friedrich “Fritz” Mandl, a wealthy industrialist and Austrian arms manufacturer (1). Hedy converted to Fritz’s Roman Catholic faith. Fritz, because of his business dealings, associated with Europe’s fascist movements, which included Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
Mandel supplied ammunition to Fascist Italy and was friends with that country’s leader, Benito Mussolini, who visited for a dinner party (1). It was during these dinner parties that business discussions came up. Mandl decided to show off his wife, Hedy, by having her sit in on these business dinner meetings.[2] A frequent topic of conversation that came up at Mandl’s meetings was how Mandl’s torpedoes would often completely miss their targets.
What Hedy learned in these business dinner meetings was that the militaries of the time wanted a way to guide torpedoes through the water(2). Although radio control would have helped the torpedoes’ guidance of the day, they could easily be jammed. Fritz Mandl’s Berlin-based munitions factory also dealt with aircraft control systems and the jamming of radio-controlled systems.[3] In the hundreds of dinners and meetings that Hedy attended with her husband Mandl, she learned about radio-jamming and radio-hopping. Hedy, in these various social excursions, learned a lot about the tensions in interwar Europe, and she gained knowledge of arms manufacturing and weaponry (1). These meetings would have a significant impact on the history of electronics and military weapons.
Leaving Austria
In 1937, Hedy was deeply unhappy with her marriage to Fritz Mandl and was unable to pursue her acting career in Austria (1). She left the country for London, United Kingdom, that same year. She also left Austria because she was an Anti-Nazi of Jewish descent (3). It was there that she met with Louis B. Mayer, the co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios (1). From London, she boarded the ship SS Normandie for New York. When she arrived in the USA, Hedy changed her name from Hedwig Kiesler to Hedy Lamarr in honor of the silent film actress Barbara La Marr. In 1938, Hedy Lamarr had her breakthrough Hollywood role in the film Algiers. Her biggest film hit was Samson and Delilah in 1949.
Hedy Lamarr’s impact in the field of electronics and military weapons was a result of the U-Boat war against the Allies (1). On September 17, 1940, the SS City of Benares was transporting 90 evacuee children from the United Kingdom to Canada. It was sunk by a German U-Boat. The vast majority of the children and adult passengers died in the attack. Hedy Lamarr was motivated to support the Allied cause because of this incident.
In 1940, Hedy met avant-garde composer George Antheil at a Hollywood dinner party (1). George Antheil was also her neighbor (3). It was after striking up a friendship with Antheil that they began working on her idea for a remote-controlled torpedo because of the previously mentioned sinking (1). Hedy came up with the idea of using radio-frequency hopping to reduce the risk of detection or jamming for radio-controlled torpedoes (3). Although the concept of radio control for torpedoes was nothing new, the idea of frequency hopping was). Lamarr would use radio broadcasting over an apparently random series of radio frequencies and then switched from frequency to frequency at split-second intervals. This resulted in the radio signals being able to avoid being jammed. The radio receiver was to be synchronized with the transmitter so that the two could jump frequencies together. If both the radio transmitter and the radio receiver were hopping in sync, the message could be transmitted clearly. However, if the opposing force tried to intercept the radio message, it would only hear random noise. The theory of frequency hopping was Hedy’s contribution to the guidance of the new torpedo.
Invention
George Antheil’s contribution to the torpedo was to develop a device inside of it (3). This device had the role of paper, with punched-in holes that allowed both radios in the torpedo to be controlled by the same pattern of holes on the paper.
Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil worked on this idea for several months, and then in December, 1940 sent the description of the device to the National Inventors Council (3). The chairman of the organization was Charles Kettering, who was also the Research Director of General Motors. Kettering suggested that they consult the Electrical Engineering Department at the California Institute of Technology to help refine and perfect their concept. On June 10, 1941, Lamarr and Antheil filed for a patent application for their invention (1). Hedy Lamarr filed the patent under her married name at the time, Hedy Kiesler Markey. On August 11, 1942, the invention received US patent No. 2,292,387 (1). The U.S. Patent was also referred to as No. 2,292,387A (5). The patent was listed under the title “Secret Communications System”, and it mentioned that a high altitude observation aircraft could steer the torpedo from above (3). Hedy and George sold the patent rights to the U.S. Navy. However, the U.S. Navy said they could not use the device because it was too large to fit into a torpedo. Hedy and George never profited from the device during their lifetime.[4] The concept of frequency hopping largely disappeared after World War II ended.
In 1957, Sylvania Electronics adapted the Antheil and Lamarr patent by using transistors in their device (3). In 1959, the original Lamarr and Antheil Patent expired, including Hedy’s right to the patent.[5] In that same year, George Antheil died (1). The new device was used on ships that were used to blockade Cuba during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (3). The frequency-hopping spread-spectrum device known by the acronym BLADES was installed on the Mount McKinley, the flagship of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious forces during the Cuban Missile Crisis.[6] The BLADES device on the Mount McKinley was not tested during the Cuban Missile Crisis due to a radio silence order. The American military also used the concept of frequency hopping in the development of “sonobuoys,” which were used to detect enemy submarines (1). In addition, by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, American military ships had torpedoes which were controlled by frequency-hopping systems.
In 1997, Antheil and Lamarr were jointly honored with the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Pioneer Award (1). Hedy Lamarr’s son, Anthony, accepted the 1997 award on her behalf and played a message during the ceremony.[7] In the tape-recorded message, Hedy stated: “In acknowledgement of your honoring me, I hope you feel as well as I feel good about it, and it was not done in vain. Thank You”.[8] The ceremony was held on the evening of March 12, 1997, at the Electronic Frontier Foundation conference in Burlingame, California, outside of San Francisco (7). Lamarr and Antheil received the Sixth Annual Pioneer Award at the Electronic Frontier Foundation conference.
Hedy Lamarr passed away on January 19, 2000 in Casselberry, Florida at the age of 85 (1).
Legacy
Today, Antheil-Lamarr’s concept is called “Spread Spectrum,” and more than 1,000 Spread Spectrum patents refer back to the Lamarr-Antheil patent (3). Spread Spectrum is now the basis for wireless communications such as WiFi and Bluetooth. These technologies allow devices to operate in the same radio spectrum without interfering with each other’s signals. “Spread spectrum” is also a foundational technology used in military communications technologies, as well as in GPS and phone networks (1).
Hedy Lamarr’s acting career in the entertainment industry did not produce the level of fame that her contemporaries did. She would escape the clutches of Nazi-occupied Europe and continue her acting career in the USA. Her collaboration with George Antheil revolutionized the world of electronic communications. Hedy Lamarr was not an “A-list” actress, but, she and George Antheil left a lasting legacy in modern military communications and the modern electronic and digital world.
The site has been offering a wide variety of high-quality, free history content since 2012. If you’d like to say ‘thank you’ and help us with site running costs, please consider donating here.
References
Butler, Alun. “Heady Lamarr, Movie Star and Inventor of Torpedo-control”: Naval Historical Review, (June, 1999), 1-2. Naval Historical Society of Australia, https://navyhistory.au/hedy-lamarr-movie-star-and-inventor-of-torpedo-control/.
IEEE Standards Association. .”Actress/Inventor Hedy Lamarr-and How Far Wireless Communications Has Come”. June 23rd, 2023. Accessed March 18th, 2026, https://standards.ieee.org/beyond-standards/hedy-lamarr/.
Lansberg, Erica. “Hedy Lamarr’s WWII Invention Helped Shape Modern Tech”. The National WWII Museum New Orleans, April 23rd, 2025, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hedy-lamarrs-wwii-invention-helped-shape-modern-tech.
National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Hedy Lamarr: Frequency Hopping Communications System”. 2016. Accessed March 18th, 2026. https://www.invent.org/inductees/hedy-lamarr.
Rhodes, Richard, Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Women in the World. New York, New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Inc., 2011.
Wolf, William, U.S. Aerial Armament in World War II: The Ultimate Look: Air-launched Rockets, Mines, Torpedoes, Guided Missiles, and Secret Weapons. 3 vols. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History of Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2010.
[1] Lansberg, Erica. “Hedy Lamarr’s WWII Invention Helped Shape Modern Tech”. The National WWII Museum New Orleans, April 23rd, 2025, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hedy-lamarrs-wwii-invention-helped-shape-modern-tech .
[2] Butler, Alun. “Heady Lamarr, Movie Star and Inventor of Torpedo-control”: Naval Historical Review, (June, 1999), 1-2. Naval Historical Society of Australia, https://navyhistory.au/hedy-lamarr-movie-star-and-inventor-of-torpedo-control/ .
[3] Wolf, William, U.S. Aerial Armament in World War II: The Ultimate Look: Air-launched Rockets, Mines, Torpedoes, Guided Missiles, and Secret Weapons. 3 vols. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Military History of Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 2010. 105.
[4] National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Hedy Lamarr: Frequency Hopping Communications System”. 2016. Accessed March 18th, 2026. https://www.invent.org/inductees/hedy-lamarr .
[5] IEEE Standards Association. .”Actress/Inventor Hedy Lamarr-and How Far Wireless Communications Has Come”. June 23rd, 2023. Accessed March 18th, 2026, https://standards.ieee.org/beyond-standards/hedy-lamarr/ .
[6] Rhodes, Richard, Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Women in the World. New York, New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Inc., 2011. 200.
[7] Lansberg, Erica. “Hedy Lamarr’s WWII Invention Helped Shape Modern Tech”. The National WWII Museum New Orleans, April 23rd, 2025, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/hedy-lamarrs-wwii-invention-helped-shape-modern-tech.; Rhodes, Richard, Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Women in the World. New York, New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Inc., 2011. 214.
[8] Rhodes, Richard, Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Women in the World. New York, New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Inc., 2011. 214.
