Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017) Online

Fascinating documentary on the gorgeous, brilliant, and complicated screen star Hedy Lamarr. Her beauty was known to all, even serving as the inspiration for the face of Disney's Snow White. Yet few, including myself , knew of her inventing genius, and how one of her patents (frequency hopping) would serve in later years as an important part of cell phone, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and military technology.

All in all, I thought this was an exceptional documentary filled with surprises.

No trick photography, no special gimmicks. Nothing out of the ordinary is needed when the life story we're presented with is so unique. The Hedy Lamarr story is way more than a biography of an old timer who used to be a Hollywood star. It's more than the story of "the most beautiful woman in the world" whose talents well exceeded her beauty.

It's a story of our failings as a society when faced with whatever defied the conventions we live by. And the tragedy of those that wouldn't fit under the labels we like to stick on whoever crosses our path. To put it in a single sentence it's a story most of us know nothing about but all of us should. If you do get the chance just go see it.

4/25/18. This is a really well done biopic about an underrated actress who got her just due with this film. I really liked her in Samson and Delilah although I haven't seen any of her other movies. Over the years I have heard her mentioned as an inventor and thought that was a curious fact to share about an actress. This biopic goes into enough detail for the viewer to understand just how intelligent Lamarr was in electronics and that her inventions are still being used in our time through the technology we use. Sadly, she was never compensated for her patents. If she was she wouldn't have lived such a hardscrabble life in her later years and had all that plastic surgery that really ruined her face. It is somewhat sad to see how such a talented woman had a series of unhappy marriages that emotionally ruined her and how Hollywood never gave her the recognition she wanted and so truly deserved. Worth catching.

Fascinating look at the life and work of Hedy Lamarr. About five years ago, I distinctly remember reading in an electrical engineering journal about the inventions of Hedy in the field of telecommunications. I rushed to the local library and sure enough there were several books about her. It was such a pleasure to see this documentary. It tied it all together for me. We learn a good deal about her early life and upbringing and her start in the European Film business. Like many European artists, Hedy was alarmed at the rise of Fascism and decided for a better life in America. We also learn about the early studio system, both the positive aspects and also about some of the negative ones, which are front and centre with the public these days. Hedy was a multi faceted artist/inventor and we see her forming collaborative relationships with all sorts of people from avant-garde pianists to airplane designers! She was certainly a modern day Ada Lovelace.

For some reason I thought it was going to be a bio epic.  I wondered who they would get to play Ms. Lamar.  Using archival footage, stills and a recording of an interview with the star they got Hedy Lamar to play Hedy Lamar.  It was a moving touching history of a woman who had many accomplishments.

She helped Howard Hughes design better planes by studying streamlining in birds and fishes.  She invented Frequency Hopping (along with composer George Antheil).  She founded Aspen as a ski resort.  She produced movies (unheard of for a woman at the time).  She came up with techniques on cosmetic surgery to hide the scars.  Unfortunately she also became a poster child for reasons not to undergo the operation.  Her unsuccessful surgeries probably added to her being a recluse.

She wanted to be recognized for her mind and not her beauty.  Yet she married a series of men who treated her as a trophy wife.  Her most famous contribution to science was in devising a system for secret transmissions (frequency hopping).  It's greater value was not realized until the advent of GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi.

She was recognized/honoured for her invention at a Science Forum which she opted not to attend but left a recording played by her son.  The film showed her phoning halfway through the presentation to ask how it went.  Her son advises that he is in the middle of it and that he loves her.

Frequency hopping has multiple inventors. In 1899 Marconi performed an experiment using the technique.  Nikola Tesla received a patent in 1903.  German military used frequency hopping in World War One.  A Polish inventor, Leonard Danilewicz had the idea in 1929.  In 1942 a patent was awarded to Hedy Lamar.  In 1980 a Winnipeg filmmaker originated the idea (called Variable Transmission Broadcast) as a plot device to represent Norway in a symbolic re-enactment of World War Two where rival transportation companies, representing Germany and England, sought to steal the idea symbolic of invading Norway (both sides wanted to).  The film did not get made but it is ironic that frequency hopping technology of Bluetooth has Scandanavian roots.  Ray Zinn gained a patent in 2006 for his version.  Slight improvements justify issuing new patents.

Although she had raised $25 million for the War effort her patent was confiscated based on her being a foreign alien (having been born in Austria).

The navy had secretly used her technology some ten years later.  She would have been entitled to royalty payments if she had known.  She also didn't know that you can only go back six years from the time one launches a lawsuit.  It is not enough to have a patent; one has to Police it to see if being infringed; Prosecute (take it to court); Prove it was your idea they stole; and Profit* for the effort By the time she found out her patent had long expired.

The film covers her being exploited as a movie star and inventor and innovator.  This late tribute values her contributions and recognizes her pioneering roles.

* back then you could recover costs - today that provision has been taken away.  So it is profitable to steal patents and only pay royalties once losing in court (happens may be one time in eight that an inventor sues).  See "Flash of Genius".

If this shows up on public TV or somewhere in your area, definitely go and see it. It's amazing.

The documentary is the story of Hedy Lamarr, one of the most gorgeous women ever in Hollywood, and also the inventor of frequency hopping, which is still used today in everything - WiFi, Bluetooth, you name it.

Her story is inspirational and also extremely sad. Above all else, it is fascinating.

Her children are interviewed, as is Robert Osborne, and there are film clips from her career, and interview footage with Lamarr.

A few years ago on Jeopardy, there was a category called "Hedy Lamarr." Alex Trebeck wound up running the category himself, and asked, "Have none of you ever heard of Hedy Lamarr?" "Well," piped up one woman,"I know Hedly Lamarr from Blazing Saddles." A real pity, and it would be lovely if that were a thing of the past.

A look at the amazing life of Heady Lamarr through the eyes of her children, the few left who know her, and 4 tapes of a conversation a writer made in 1990 when she wanted to sell her story to Ted Turner. Her story reads like a Hollywood screenplay. Truly amazing! The documentary does have several maddening shortcomings. There is no explanation as to why only one attempt was made to tell the armed forces (Navy) about her frequency hopping invention. For example, why didn't she to Howard Hughes, who she'd been both good friends and a lover with? Many aspects of her personal life are also left out, buy adding them would have expanded the documentary to two hours. Still, this is a star vehicle, and as always, Hedy carries the day.

I was impressed by Alexandra Dean's detective work piecing together how Hedy probably thought up the idea. And for those who sniffed at the graphics, they reflected the style of her drawings, and not a superhero movie. One small technical point that was missed is that frequency hopping is also the basis of multi-spectrum quiescent radar and sensors. As a result, the value of the market that uses her basic idea is far larger than the $30 billion listed at the end of the documentary. I highly recommend it, especially her reciting of the Kent M. Keith's "The Paradoxical Commandments" at the end. Considering her life, it's hard not to tear up.

I like many others who watch this will be in awe of the full extent of all the she did before seeing this film. You will even be saddened that she was not really fully allowed to do what her passion really was. It was a constant "Wow! She did that? and Her mind thought like that?" Most of what she did was forced upon her to keep as a sort of secret hobby. It was a different time back then. It will leave you wondering about all she could have done if she had been born now. I was in shock of the many great things and people we do know to push limits in their inventions that she helped inspire and make better. Her mind never stopped when the cameras shut down.

I just remember falling in love with her watching old movies at my Granny's during sleep-overs. Back in the day where there were only a handful of channels and we had to walk across the room to turn the dial. In the evening there would be the Late show, then the Late-Late show and the Late-Late-Late show before the National Anthem would play early A.M. and the T.V. But, one of her greatest inventions which was turned down after being inspired like many Americans to do their part during the War.

Again, sadly it was a different time back then and women like her. Women as well known and as beautiful as her were imposed upon to do their part and just look pretty and start selling War-bonds, and being eye-candy for the troops.

She is one of those people that you wish that if there is life after death or reincarnation that she got to become whom she was meant to be in her first life. Now that women can be viewed a little differently for what they have to offer more now than just being another pretty face. A must watch if you love documentary movies as much as I do. A must-must watch if you grew up watching her movies way back when. You will love her even more.

Many film lovers ONLY know Hedy Lamarr the actress whose face lite up the silver screen. Few knew of her contribution to our digital/wireless/blue-tooth enabled world through her inventive mind. Bombshell is that very story wrapped around her cinematic career. The director delivers a wonderful documentary of the great Hedy Lamarr.

With all respect to the women portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures (2016), an earlier "hidden figure" was hidden in plain sight - in Hollywood, no less - with her figure being part of the façade.

The world knew movie star Hedy Lamarr for her looks and the movies they graced during three decades in film. Very few knew Lamarr as the inventor who conceived technology that paved the way for Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.

Lamarr's life story could have been a movie itself, and now it is: the documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story.

On one level, Bombshell is a tale of escape - from Lamarr's native Austria-Hungary as it fell under German domination; from her first husband, a controlling man who manufactured and sold weapons for Hitler and Mussolini; and from a 1930s immigration system stacked against refugees. But the story rises to a higher level amid the current debates about feminism; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for women and gender inequality in the workplace.

Filmmakers Alexandra Dean and Adam Haggiag were about six months into their Lamarr documentary when they made an amazing discovery: Reaching out to reporters who had written about Lamarr in the past, they contacted former Forbes writer Fleming Meeks. "I have been waiting 25 years for somebody to call me about Hedy Lamarr," he responded, "because I have the tapes."

It was back to the drawing board for the filmmakers, because suddenly Lamarr could narrate her own story. To add context, the filmmakers spliced in interviews with her children and friends, as well as well as entertainment figures such actress Diane Kruger, who is producing a TV miniseries about Lamarr, and director Mel Brooks, whose admiration for the actress led him to famously name Harvey Korman's Blazing Saddles character "Hedley Lamarr." (Brooks' laugh lines seem rather stale in today's #MeToo environment.)

Born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in Vienna to Jewish parents, Lamarr was a quintessential "daddy's girl," which later may have contributed to her many failed marriages. Early on, she discovered that her looks enabled her to influence others. As teenager, she left school to pursue a career in acting. During the early '30s, she appeared in five German and Austrian films and started going by her nickname, "Hedy." In the last of those, Ecstasy (1933), she performed nude, which was considered shocking. It contributed to her rising fame but likely cost her respect, and opportunities, later in her career.

After fleeing Austria and her marriage, she made it to London and met legendary producer Louis B. Mayer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who was there to scout European actors and actresses fleeing fascism. She persuaded him to give her a contract with MGM, and he persuaded her to change her name, settling on "Lamarr," at the suggestion of his wife, to honor silent-film star Barbara La Marr.

Patriotism and Perfidy

Hoping to bring her mother to America, Lamarr became concerned about the the number of ships being sunk by German U-boats, which eluded counterattacks by jamming the radar of Allied torpedoes.

Though Mayer kept her busy with 14 films during the war years, Lamarr, a lifelong inventor, made time to study torpedo guidance and came up with "frequency hopping," the idea of transmitting radio signals by rapidly switching among many frequencies known to both transmitter and receiver. She worked with avant garde composer George Antheil to turn her theories into reality; they obtained a patent in August 1942 and made it available to the Navy.

But the Navy wasn't impressed, suggesting Lamarr could do more for the war effort by pitching war bonds. (She did, and quite successfully.) It was years later that the Pentagon's perfidy would be uncovered: The government repaid Lamarr's patriotism by labeling her an enemy alien and seizing the patent, which it proceeded to use in subsequent years. Neither Lamarr nor Antheil made a dime.

She was just as headstrong about her movie career. After getting out of her MGM contract, Lamarr set out to produce her own movies, which was rare in the studio era. But she had another powerful weapon, herself. She produced and starred in The Strange Woman (1946) and Loves of Three Queens (1954), in some cases spending her own money to get the projects done. For making her own career choices, Lamarr was said to be "difficult," a label still used today to punish women who don't toe the line in the entertainment industry.

So by the end of 1965, Lamarr had given away her greatest invention, refused to sit quietly on the Hollywood gravy train and been through six failed marriages. (The film suggests she found several of her husbands "boring" because they couldn't engage her intellect.) On top of all that, she became addicted to prescription drugs under the care of Dr. Max Jacobson, Hollywood's infamous "Dr. Feelgood."

Her later years were marred by strange arrests for shoplifting items she could afford, repeated plastic surgeries that did not produce the desired effects, and increasingly reclusive behavior.

Bombshell paints Lamarr as a brilliant woman who was too far ahead of her time in a couple of America's most combative arenas: entertainment and war. It holds a viewer's attention throughout by convincingly tying the actress' life experiences to issues that remain relevant, even controversial, today.

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Stu Robinson does writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Hedy Lamarr's story, especially as it is told in her own words, is absolutely fascinating, spellbinding, inspiring and well worth the effort to seek it out. Hedy was a visionary who spent her whole life living down her public image by blazing her own trails in the most refreshingly unconventional ways and shattering her stereotype in the process. Thank-you Susan Sarandon and to your fellow producers, for making sure this story sees the light of day.

GRADE: B-

THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.

IN BRIEF: An insightful documentary about the actress, Hedy Lamarr and her unacknowledged scientific inventions.

JIM'S REVIEW: Hedy Lemarr was a most fascinating woman and Alexandra Dean's documentary, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, certainly adds to her allure. Most called her an international movie star of the 40's. Others called her a spy. Very few recognized her scientific achievements. It was always a case of beauty over brains.

The film focuses on her untold story from her childhood and early bohemian life in Vienna during the 1930's, her rising 40's Hollywood career, subsequent scandals, and many marriages and divorces. It also shows her as a woman of creativity and intelligence, one who actually patented inventions that were early prototypes of WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS technology. Documents reveal her plans for radio controlled torpedoes during World War II, aeronautic aviation advances, and secret communication systems. One can easily accept the film's main title for its double meaning after seeing the evidence on display.

However, Ms. Lamarr's scientific aspirations and skills were derailed by her beauty and chauvinistic attitude at that time. It was her glamour that most wanted to idolize which led to a thriving film career. Using archival footage, photos, interviews with family, animation, and film clips of Ms. Lemarr's films, the documentary chronicles her life using a found taped interview by the actress that tells many hidden details of her flamboyant life as its primary source.

While always interesting, this documentary seems to overcompensate about her scientific breakthroughs and bogs down with the technical underpinnings of her inventions. The animation is crude and unnecessary. The film provides glosses over the few facts about her numerous love affairs and marriages it shares and uses her Hollywood films as an afterthought that takes second place to her personal backstory. All seems well researched, but one wishes the filmmakers would have concentrated more on her two-sided complex life, with more film clips and exposition about her love affairs and relationships. It rarely stays on any one aspect of Ms. Lemarr's for too long.

Still, with such a fascinating woman as the subject, Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is always compelling and offers many facts unknown to this reviewer. I gained more insight and admiration from this documentary for this under-appreciated talented woman which is a strong statement in itself for Ms. Dean's film too.

NOTE: This document is now available in movie art houses that showcase independent films. It is also on DVD and local streaming services.

I highly recommend this film. It's very well done, with lots of interesting film clips, interviews, and insight into Hedy Lamarr's life and times. A major theme is how beauty can make it difficult for people to see a woman's other skills and talents and abilities. She may be almost forgotten as a Hollywood beauty, and the value of her contribution to modern technology isn't too well known - which is a terrible shame.

If we are all honest nobody really knew about the story of Hedy Lamarr, and that's not even because she's not from our generation. Of course, I knew her as an actress, but what she accomplished besides her acting career is far more interesting, and it's good to have a nice documentary about it. The documentary is well done, with interviews from all kind of people, going from family members, actors, journalists and scientists and so on. There is also alot of interesting footage of her childhood, movies, her public appearances and her at an older age. She's been called the best looking woman in the world at that time, I wouldn't go that far, but she wasn't ugly that's a fact. The start isn't great, her as a Jew married to a weapon supplier of the Nazi's but at the end she did her best helping to fight the Germans, and that through her creative inventing mind. She should deserve much more then just a plaque for her invention. At least this documentary will give her the respect she deserves for the things she did. She was probably not an easy person to live with, but that's because she was a victim of Hollywood and drugs. In the end, I think she would be much better off if she didn't start her acting career and just concentrated her efforts in the promising inventions she had in her creative mind. Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story is certainly worth a watch, just to have another and better view of the woman she was, way more then just a glamorous Hollywood diva.

Having never heard of Hedy Lamarr until discovering her by accident whilst researching some topics on the web, I was firstly in admiration of her beauty. My first reaction was "WOW". She is one perfectly, visual lady. There are many stunning women across the globe and Hollywood is a haven for them and we don't need to ask why. My initial vision of this lady immediately drew me in and I had a compulsion to find out more about who she was and what she did.

The movie, which I found intriguing, brought a mixture of emotions at times both inspiring and saddening. There were comical parts (I won't spoil it by mentioning them) it was a sweet moment. It came at a point in the movie which (for me) was perfectly, sweet moment.

In Hedy and her life, I see a lady who was obviously discontented due to so many marriages. Beauty - Albeit is known largely to be a blessing for some who have it but, sadly, it can be a curse for some when people fail to look beyond the physical appearances. This presentation proved this and it was no doubt the central theme.

What I also noticed in Hedy, was a lady who spent her life aiming to please and to be somebody she wanted to be and at the same time, not realising just how good she was. We must remember that in the time of her life, women were expected to be 'ladies' and venturing into a man's line of work was unheard of. I think Hedy broke the ultimate taboo and pushed the boundaries of what she was 'expected' to be.

Beauty comes naturally. Brains are something else.

Hedy had both and it showed because she never let anybody set limits for her.

Hedy Lamarr has a true story to tell you that it full of more drama than anything she ever did on screen.

Heddy was not only beautiful but smart. The film follows the life story of Lamarr from her youth as the daughter of assimilated Austrian Jews through her rise to fame, the Nazi onslaught, her departure for the United States, six marriages, her acting career, her landmark invention, decline, and finally her death at the age of 85 in 2000. The focus of the film is on her co-creation with George Antheil of the technology of frequency hopping.

This is a well made documentary about one remarkable woman! The film also has the benefit of using an audio interview of the famed actress as well as vintage interview she gave on Merv Griffin.

The title cuts two ways. The apparent subject is the Viennese beauty many declared the greatest beauty in Hollywood.That bombshell Hedy became a favourite both at the box office and fan magazines. The film traces her fast stardom in Austria and her rise and fall in America, her succession of marriages and the astonishing genius she showed in inventing "frequency jumping." That enabled the navy to radio-control its torpedoes and to send uninterruptible messages. It's the source of our Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and all our remote connectivity. Hedy invented that between her film shooting schedules. The film itself is a bombshell dropped on the American film industry and military for failing to recognize, use and reward this extraordinary woman. Hollywood writers, directors, producers and Hedy's husbands were enable to venture past her beautiful face to discover her remarkable mind and character. She was too beautiful for men to love. She was given roles and films beneath her capacity. When she ventured into producing, the industry closed her out. She was further failed by the drugs and cosmetic surgery she took to extend her career. Her radar invention has grown into a 30 billion-dollar industry today. For that she received - nothing! The navy denied employing her invention within her patent period (though they demonstrably did). She died acknowledged but not repaid. She was in need, but not repaid. To its own shame, the Navy disdained her invention at the time it was most needed, to repel the Nazi torpedoes. The beautiful woman could not possibly be an inventor, they insisted, so they sent her off to entertain the troops and sell war bonds. Essentially this is the story (i) of a remarkably gifted woman's success and (ii)of the stupid male systems that undervalued and misused her.

I mentioned that the documentary was even-handed because all too often, I've seen biographies of various celebrities which either only focus on the bad or only the good about folks. Folks have positive and negative qualities...and Hedy Lamarr is no exception.

The film is a biography of the actress that also focuses on her inventing the concept of rotating frequencies...enabling a sub, for example, to launch a radio-guided torpedo without worries about the enemy jamming the signal. It's a strange invention for an actress to have made...and the film helps to show that Lamarr was not just a pretty face. It also, sadly, talks about her personal life...which was filled with husband and husband and disappointment after disappointment. And, it talks about Lamarr's drug use (created by the studio) and her odd personality quirks. All put together, it makes for an intriguing look at a fascinating lady. Well worth seeing...and a nice film about a feminist in 1930s-40s Hollywood.

Good documentary but wrong about torpedoes in WWII. The documentary alleges that the Nazi U-boats were devastating UK shipping because of inferior British torpedoes. Torpedoes were never used against submarines, they are today, but not in WWII. Subs were either shot up by planes when they surfaced or sunk with depth charges. The real reason Nazi U-boats were so lethal was because the Allies could not find them. Sonar was in it's infancy. Later in the war, when sonar got better and planes could fly farther, the Nazi U-boats went from hunters, to hunted.

A fascinating & yet ultimately sobering doc on the life of Hedy (that's Hedley!) LaMarr, the screen siren of the 40's who was actually deeper than her looks led one to believe. It's a shame she'll mostly be known as the face that launched a thousand Hollywood ships but hopefully this look at her 'inventive' side will rectify the shallow thoughts people will have of her.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Exceptionally entertaining documentary that takes a look at the life and career of Hedy Lamarr, the actress who many consider to be the greatest looking woman to ever appear in movies. The documentary covers her early childhood, the notoriety that came with her nude scenes in ECSTASY as well as her time in Hollywood and a controversial dealing with the U.S. government.

If you're a fan of Lamarr then you'll certainly want to check this documentary out. It starts off talking about the actress in her later years as well as a book she was to write about herself but that never materialized. The film's main draw is the fact that Lamarr did give an interview later in her life and those audio tapes were recently discovered and on display here.

I really enjoyed this documentary because it did a very good job at covering various aspects of Lamarr's life and it didn't shy away from some of the bad stuff. I respect the documentary for being open and honest on these subjects and a lot of credit goes to her children who are interviewed here and shine a light on what was going on in their mother's life at the time all of this was going on.

The documentary certainly pays close attention to her movies including the controversial nudity that she did and her reasoning's for it once she came to Hollywood. The good portion of the running time is devoted to how smart Lamarr actually was and how she designed a very important item during WWII and one that should have brought her riches but didn't.

BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY is well-researched and contains a lot of great information on the actress. The interviews with her family as well as fans (like Mel Brooks) makes this a must-see.

This is a wonderful documentary about the woman of the century..As an Imigrant, citizen later ( 1953 ) she contributed so much to this country, especially during the war years. Selling war bonds more than any other person at that time, invented a frequency hopping product to sink German U-boats during WW2., plus used during the '60's Cuban crisis, when we almost went to war with Russia. Because of her outstanding beauty, she was more admired for it, than her brains, so she wasn't taken seriously even with a patent on her invention. Susam Sarandon, co-producer said in an interview, that her story really should be made into a major motion picture, for what she did, and went through, while living in Europe during her younger years. In the DVD version, there are extras, with more in depth info from Mel Brooks, who was asked why he used her name as the butt of a joke in his movie, "Blazing Saddles". ..and more interviews. I was so taken by the DVD, that when it was shown for the first time on PBS's, "American Masters", I had to watch it again. Of course, you do not get to see any extra's as on the DVD. Till this day, I do not see why this woman hasn't even been put on a US postage stamp icon...but, you do see on occasions, other less accomplished celebs, and even Mickey Mouse .

Immigrant/American Hero swindled by the America government. An Immigrant/American woman drugged and used by Hollywood in America. She deserved so much more then we gave her. Eye opening documentary

This is a inspired and eye opening documentary about a brilliant and beautiful, rare being. I am moved by Hedy Lamarr's story, this documentary was thoughtfully made and exciting. It is a deep telling of her contributions to the world and a of a slice of western cultural history. The Navy needs to give Ms. Lamarr's family a huge amount of money. In this time of the post - studio and post - Weinstein Hollywood, the stories of what so many women endured in the film industry need to keep being told. Thank You

This is the story of Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, Austrian who came to the USA and became one of the biggest film stars briefly. As was common back in the 1930s and 1940s she assumed what was considered a more suitable name for her career and she forever became known as Hedy Lamarr.

She was unique in that although she had a pretty face, some consider her the most beautiful actress ever, she wanted people to know her and appreciate her for what she really was behind that face. She always seemed to attract the wrong kind of man and was married a number of times.

Much of this documentary, supported with audio tapes from an interview that she did after her film career, focuses on her talent as an inventor. In the early parts of WW2 she observed that many torpedoes missed their mark and, along with musician George Antheil, was granted patent # 2,292,387 for a "Secret Communication System." A system that would allow the ship to guide the torpedo after it was launched. She used her then married name, Hedy Kiesler Markey.

The patent was never used as intended and was buried by the military but much later it was discovered that another inventor used it for a communication system between ocean buoys and aircraft, and many attribute her ideas to technology that led to such applications as GPS and WiFi. Regardless she and her co-inventor never got any money from the invention.

In later life her vanity did get the best of her, she had a number of cosmetic surgery procedures and her looks deteriorated. But listening to the tapes she comes across as a pretty much normal, bright person and not much like the glamorous star we saw in her movies.

Good documentary.

Edit: I went back and watched the DVD of the 1949 movie "Samson and Delilah" and Hedy was indeed both beautiful and talented, in fact her character is very smart but scheming and not very happy when she doesn't get her man.