Editing Hedy Lamarr (section)

===Louis B. Mayer and MGM===
[[File:Algiers 1938 (3).jpg|thumb|[[Sigrid Gurie]] (left) and Hedy Lamarr (right) were [[Charles Boyer]]'s leading ladies in ''Algiers'' (1938).]]
After arriving in London<ref name="knowledgenuts_2015-09-07">{{cite web|url=https://knowledgenuts.com/2015/09/07/hedy-lamarrs-great-escape/|access-date=May 17, 2018|title=Hedy Lamarr's Great Escape|work=KnowledgeNuts |date=September 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404191848/http://knowledgenuts.com/2015/09/07/hedy-lamarrs-great-escape/|archive-date=April 4, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> in 1937, she met [[Louis B. Mayer]], head of [[MGM]], who was scouting for talent in Europe.<ref>Donnelley, Paul. ''Fade to Black: 1500 Movie Obituaries'', Omnibus Press (2010), p. 639.</ref> She initially turned down the offer he made her (of $125 a week), but then booked herself onto the same New York-bound liner as him, and managed to impress him enough to secure a $500-a-week contract. Mayer persuaded her to change her name to Hedy Lamarr (to distance herself from her real identity, and "the ''Ecstasy'' lady" reputation associated with it),{{r|friedrich1997}} choosing the surname in homage to the beautiful silent film star, [[Barbara La Marr]], on the suggestion of his wife, who admired La Marr. He brought her to Hollywood in 1938 and began promoting her as the "world's most beautiful woman".<ref>Katz, Ephraim. ''The Film Encyclopedia'', 3rd ed. HarperPerennial (1998), p. 780.</ref>

Mayer loaned Lamarr to producer [[Walter Wanger]], who was making ''[[Algiers (1938 film)|Algiers]]'' (1938), an American version of the French film, ''[[Pépé le Moko]]'' (1937). Lamarr was cast in the lead opposite [[Charles Boyer]]. The film created a "national sensation", says Shearer.<ref name="shearer"/>{{rp|77}} She was billed as an unknown but well-publicized Austrian actress, which created anticipation in audiences. Mayer hoped she would become another [[Greta Garbo]] or [[Marlene Dietrich]].<ref name="shearer"/>{{rp|77}} According to one viewer, when her face first appeared on the screen, "everyone gasped ... Lamarr's beauty literally took one's breath away."<ref name="shearer"/>{{rp|2}}
[[File:Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr Publicity Photo for Comrade X 1940.jpg|thumb|left|[[Clark Gable]] and Lamarr in ''Comrade X'' (1940)]]

In future Hollywood films, she was invariably [[typecasting (acting)|typecast]] as the archetypal glamorous seductress of exotic origin. Her second American film was to be ''[[I Take This Woman (1940 film)|I Take This Woman]]'', co-starring with [[Spencer Tracy]] under the direction of regular Dietrich collaborator [[Josef von Sternberg]]. Von Sternberg was fired during the shoot, replaced by [[Frank Borzage]]. The film was put on hold, and Lamarr was put into ''[[Lady of the Tropics]]'' (1939), where she played a mixed-race seductress in Saigon opposite [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]]. She returned to ''I Take This Woman'', re-shot by [[W. S. Van Dyke]]. The resulting film was a flop.
[[File:Hedy Lamarr - Screenland (October 1942).png|thumb|Lamarr on the cover of ''[[Screenland]]'', October 1942]]

Far more popular was ''[[Boom Town (film)|Boom Town]]'' (1940) with [[Clark Gable]], [[Claudette Colbert]] and [[Spencer Tracy]]; it made $5 million.<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.</ref> MGM promptly reteamed Lamarr and Gable in ''[[Comrade X]]'' (1940), a comedy film in the vein of ''[[Ninotchka]]'' (1939), which was another hit.

Lamarr was teamed with [[James Stewart]] in ''[[Come Live with Me (film)|Come Live with Me]]'' (1941), playing a Viennese refugee. Stewart was also in ''[[Ziegfeld Girl (film)|Ziegfeld Girl]]'' (1941), where Lamarr, [[Judy Garland]] and [[Lana Turner]] played aspiring showgirls – a big success.<ref name="Mannix"/>

Lamarr was top-billed in ''[[H. M. Pulham, Esq.]]'' (1941), although the film's protagonist was the title role played by [[Robert Young (actor)|Robert Young]]. She made a third film with Tracy, ''[[Tortilla Flat (film)|Tortilla Flat]]'' (1942). It was successful at the box office, as was ''[[Crossroads (1942 film)|Crossroads]]'' (1942) with [[William Powell]].

Lamarr played the exotic Arab seductress<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bigissue.com/culture/film/susan-sarandon-hedy-lamarr-strong-well-brilliant/ | title=Susan Sarandon: "Hedy Lamarr was so strong, as well as brilliant" | date=March 8, 2018 }}</ref> Tondelayo in ''[[White Cargo]]'' (1942), top billed over [[Walter Pidgeon]]. It was a huge hit. ''White Cargo'' contains arguably her most memorable film quote, delivered with provocative invitation: "I am Tondelayo. I make [[tiffin]] for you?" This line typifies many of Lamarr's roles, which emphasized her beauty and sensuality while giving her relatively few lines. The lack of acting challenges bored Lamarr. She reportedly took up inventing to relieve her boredom.<ref name="npr.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/27/142664182/most-beautiful-woman-by-day-inventor-by-night|title='Most Beautiful Woman' By Day, Inventor By Night|date=November 22, 2011|publisher=NPR|access-date=May 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429211415/http://www.npr.org/2011/11/27/142664182/most-beautiful-woman-by-day-inventor-by-night|archive-date=April 29, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Hedy Lamarr in Her Highness and the Bellboy trailer.JPG|thumb|left|Lamarr in ''Her Highness and the Bellboy'' (1945)]]

She was reunited with Powell in a comedy ''[[The Heavenly Body]]'' (1944), then was borrowed by Warner Bros for ''[[The Conspirators (1944 film)|The Conspirators]]'' (1944). This was an attempt to repeat the success of ''Casablanca'' (1943), and RKO borrowed her for a melodrama ''[[Experiment Perilous]]'' (1944).

Back at MGM Lamarr was teamed with [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]] in the romantic comedy ''[[Her Highness and the Bellboy]]'' (1945), playing a princess who falls in love with a New Yorker. It was very popular, but would be the last film she made under her MGM contract.<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/107525%7C68054/hedy-lamarr#filmography Hedy Lamarr], TCM Full Filmography</ref>

Her off-screen life and personality during those years was quite different from her screen image. She spent much of her time feeling lonely and homesick. She might swim at her agent's pool, but shunned the beaches and staring crowds. When asked for an autograph, she wondered why anyone would want it. Writer Howard Sharpe interviewed her and gave his impression:

{{blockquote|Hedy has the most incredible personal sophistication. She knows the peculiarly European art of being womanly; she knows what men want in a beautiful woman, what attracts them, and she forces herself to be these things. She has magnetism with warmth, something that neither Dietrich nor Garbo has managed to achieve.<ref name=Liberty/>}}

Author [[Richard Rhodes]] describes her [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] into American culture:

{{blockquote|Of all the European émigrés who escaped Nazi Germany and Nazi Austria, she was one of the very few who succeeded in moving to another culture and becoming a full-fledged star herself. There were so very few who could make the transition linguistically or culturally. She really was a resourceful human being–I think because of her father's strong influence on her as a child.<ref name=Sarandon/>}}

Lamarr also had a penchant for [[Illeism|speaking about herself in the third person]].{{sfn|Barton|2010|p=97}}

====Wartime fundraiser====
Lamarr wanted to join the [[National Inventors Council]], but was reportedly told by NIC member [[Charles F. Kettering]] and others that she could better help the war effort by using her celebrity status to sell [[War bond#United States 2|war bonds]].<ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Robert A. Scholtz|first=Robert A.|last=Scholtz|title=The Origins of Spread-Spectrum Communications|journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications|volume=30|issue=5|date=May 1982|page=822|doi=10.1109/tcom.1982.1095547|bibcode=1982ITCom..30..822S}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Robert Price (engineer)|first=Robert|last=Price|title=Further Notes and Anecdotes on Spread-Spectrum Origins|journal=IEEE Transactions on Communications|volume=31|issue=1|date=January 1983|page=85|doi=10.1109/tcom.1983.1095725}}</ref>

She participated in a war-bond-selling campaign with a sailor named Eddie Rhodes. Rhodes was in the crowd at each Lamarr appearance, and she would call him up on stage. She would briefly flirt with him before asking the audience if she should give him a kiss. The crowd would say yes, to which Hedy would reply that she would if enough people bought war bonds. After enough bonds were purchased, she would kiss Rhodes and he would head back into the audience. Then they would head off to the next war bond rally.<ref>Wayne, Robert L. "''Moses''" ''Speaks to His Grandchildren'', Dog Ear Publishing (2014); {{ISBN|978-1-4575-3321-1}}, pg. 19.</ref>

====Producer====
[[File:Color photograph of Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr as Samson and Delilah.jpg|thumb|[[Victor Mature]] and Lamarr in ''[[Samson and Delilah (1949 film)|Samson and Delilah]]'' (1949)]]
After leaving MGM in 1945, Lamarr formed a production company with [[Jack Chertok]] and made the thriller ''[[The Strange Woman]]'' (1946). It went over budget and only made minor profits.<ref name="tino">{{cite book
 | last = Balio
 | first = Tino
 | title = United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars
 | date = 2009
 | publisher = [[University of Wisconsin Press]]
 | isbn = 978-0-299-23004-3
 }} p203</ref>

She and Chertok then made ''[[Dishonored Lady]]'' (1947), another thriller starring Lamarr, which also went over budget – but was not a commercial success. She tried a comedy with [[Robert Cummings]], ''[[Let's Live a Little]]'' (1948).

====Later films====
Lamarr enjoyed her biggest success playing [[Delilah]] against [[Victor Mature]] as the [[Samson|Biblical strongman]] in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s ''[[Samson and Delilah (1949 film)|Samson and Delilah]]'', the highest-grossing film of 1950. The film won two Oscars.<ref name=doc/>

Lamarr returned to MGM for a [[film noir]] with [[John Hodiak]], ''[[A Lady Without Passport]]'' (1950), which flopped. More popular were two pictures she made at Paramount, a Western with [[Ray Milland]], ''[[Copper Canyon (film)|Copper Canyon]]'' (1950), and a [[Bob Hope]] spy spoof, ''[[My Favorite Spy (1951 film)|My Favorite Spy]]'' (1951).

[[File:John Hodiak and Hedy Lamarr in A Lady Without Passport trailer.JPG|thumb|left|With [[John Hodiak]] in ''[[A Lady Without Passport]]'' (1950)]]
Her career went into decline. She went to Italy to play multiple roles in ''[[Loves of Three Queens]]'' (1954), which she also produced. However she lacked the experience necessary to make a success of such an epic production, and lost millions of dollars when she was unable to secure distribution of the picture.

She played [[Joan of Arc]] in [[Irwin Allen]]'s critically panned epic, ''[[The Story of Mankind (film)|The Story of Mankind]]'' (1957) and did episodes of ''[[Zane Grey Theatre]]'' ("Proud Woman") and ''[[Shower of Stars]]'' ("Cloak and Dagger"). Her last film was a thriller ''[[The Female Animal]]'' (1958).

Lamarr was signed to act in the 1966 film ''[[Picture Mommy Dead]]'',<ref>Duo Slated for 5 Pictures Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] Jan 21, 1966: c6.</ref> but was let go when she collapsed during filming from nervous exhaustion.<ref name="los">Hedy Lamarr Fired From Comeback Film: HEDY LAMARR Berman, Art. Los Angeles Times (1923–Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif] Feb 4, 1966: 3.</ref> She was replaced in the role of Jessica Flagmore Shelley by [[Zsa Zsa Gabor]].
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