The Beautiful Inventor
I wanted to share with you guys a series of blog posts on ten actresses and five actors from the Classic Era of film. This first in this series is my post about Carole Lombard. I wanted to do this one on actress/inventor, Hedy Lamarr. She was one of the women during the Classic Era that was considered to be a "bombshell" by film critiques, but she was more than that. She was also an established inventor.
When I first found out who Hedy Lamar was, I was watching a film that starred Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert called Boom Town (1940) during my Senior year. Hedy's appearance in the film was a little brief and didn't show her acting abilities enough but that's the discrimination that she faced as an actress and as a woman. In the 1940s, Women were expected to assist people and to support their local troops. They were also expected to look and stand pretty as they entertained the troops. Hedy did those things during the war because she was expected to.
Who is Hedy Lamarr? Hedy Lamarr was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary as Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914 to Jewish parents. Hedy had calm childhood but was fascinated with film. As a teenager, her fascination for film caused her to drop out of school to pursue an acting career. She was also a student of theatre director, Max Reinhardt in Berlin. In film, she was known as the most beautiful woman in film which isn't an exaggeration. She was playing the roles that most women only dreamed about playing. She was also envied by many actresses during her time because of the way the she looked. In Science, she was known as a woman who changed the scientific field for women. Before coming to the United States, Hedy Lamarr invented the Secret Communications System that helped aid the German troops with a Scientist. This invention got her the attention of the US Government. The attention caused her to migrate to the United States because of what was happening to Austria-Hungary at the time. It was in the United States that she helped develop the Spread Spectrum which is in Wi-Fi and cell phones. She died in Orlando, Florida on January 19, 2000 from natural causes.
Sorting Hedy Lamarr into a Hogwarts House. When I was looking up Hedy Lamarr, I noticed that most of the people talking about her was only talking about how beautiful she looked on camera and her inventions were separate from that. To me, Hedy was both. She was one of the only women at the time wanted to showoff what they can do, making her loyal to her craft and to the minds of other women around her. She was also the person who said that "any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid," which sounds about right. Because during that time, women weren't thought of as intelligent by society. The men were. Hedy Lamarr wasn't a person that was going to let society judge her because she was one of the women who believed in equality for the sexes. She was a feminist. This makes her a Hufflepuff Game Changer.
Aside for being a Hufflepuff Game Changer, Hedy Lamarr was also an intelligent woman even though she dropped out of school as a teenager. Her intelligence didn't go away. It stayed with her. That might sound impossible but it's not impossible. Because each equation used science is figuring out if something works or not is through a series of trial and error, and that's what she used when in her inventions. Her inventions was something that made her change the game for women in science and technology. She wasn't just a pretty face on the silver screen because of this. She valued the intelligence of a woman which makes her a great figure in history to look up to. A role model for some but for me she was game changer for what women can do as a job. These are the reasons why she's a Horned Serpent. Horned Serpents represents the mind of a wizard and Hedy Lamarr was definitely a smart woman. It was a real shame that her pictures reflect who she truly is. She wasn't that dumb bombshell that Hollywood sought her to be. She was more than that. She was more than just a dumb bombshell.
For the people reading this who thinks that they have to change themselves to what society thinks of them, don't. Don't change yourself for that very reason. You are perfect just the way that you are. You can not let other people's words define you because Hedy Lamarr didn't. She proved people wrong every day when she was still alive. This brings me to her Patronus which is the Black Mamba. Black Mambas are known powerful creatures and has a complex history, just like Hedy. Hedy was a person who used her intelligence against all odds. She was also someone with a complex personality as shown in her other pictures. I think that Hedy Lamarr would be worth the time and dedication to research because her life can teach you so many life lessons that your family can not teach you.Till then,
Hedy Lamarr was really smart!
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