(Drivebycuriosity) - Are you interested in the history of cinema?
Then you might enjoy the biography "Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr"
by Stephen Michael Shearer (amazon).
The author describes life and career of a Hollywood star who`s light
shined from the late 1930s through the 50s. Hedy Lamarr had an
ambivalent personality. The Austria born actress wasn`t just a glamour
girl, she also was highly sophisticated, super-smart and a pioneer of digital technology.
Hedy
co-invented, "together with composer George Antheil, an early technique
for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, which paved
the way for today's wireless communications and which, upon its
invention in 1941, was deemed so vital to national defense that
government officials would not allow publication of its details" (wikipedia).
Hedy´s biography gives an impression how Hollywood functioned in the
so-called golden age of cinema. Hedy, and other top actors, weren´t
free, instead they were a kind of slaves because they had tight
contracts which bound them to the studios. Over many years Hedy Lamarr
was a property of the studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Studio boss
Louis B. Mayer decided in which movies Hedy played and in which not.
According to Shearer the actress was temporary neglected and
underemployed because Mayer didn´t see her fit for some of his projects.
The book also gives a glance into the economy of movie making. As today movies were just commercial products - like soap. The
author describes Hedy`s relationships with Hollywood moguls like Mayer
and Cecil B. DeMille, the director of her greatest hit "Samson and
Deliah", who used her as an asset.
Shearer focuses on the movie business, describes Hedy´s films (with
spoilers) and elaborates about the star´s personal live (a lot of
divorces and short time friendships). The strengths of his book are the
insights into the Hollywood machine of the 1940s and 50s; but her role
as a co-inventor of one of the most important technological achievements
of the last century went a bit under the radar.
"Beautiful…" is a fascinating portrait of a chatoyant personality and
Hollywood`s golden years.
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