Hollywood called her the most beautiful woman in the world, but her best work never made it to the screen.
A movie star and a composer wanted to keep enemy radio from jamming torpedoes. Which self-playing musical instrument gave them the idea?
Player pianos Composer George Antheil had once synced several player pianos for a wild avant-garde score, and he and Hedy Lamarr realized radio signals could hop between frequencies in the same coordinated way.
After she turned down a Hollywood boss's lowball offer in London, what bold move did she make to change his mind?
Sailed on his ship She took the same New York liner as MGM chief Louis B. Mayer, impressed him on the way over, and stepped off with a contract worth four times his first offer and a brand new name.
Studios sold her as the world's most beautiful woman and gave her few lines. What did she secretly do on set between takes?
Designed inventions Bored by roles that relied on her looks, the self-taught Lamarr sketched ideas like a better traffic light and a tablet that turns water into a fizzy drink.
At wartime rallies, a sailor waited in the crowd for her to call him on stage. What did the audience have to do before she would kiss him?
Buy enough war bonds When she tried to join a council of wartime inventors, she was told her fame would help more by selling bonds, so she turned flirting with a sailor named Eddie Rhodes into a fundraising act.
The Navy rejected her frequency-hopping idea as too bulky. Which wireless tech that connects your earbuds uses a version of it today?
Bluetooth Her invention was mostly ignored for decades, but its spread spectrum principles now help Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS, and she finally won a pioneer award for it in her eighties.
