The Midnight Palace

Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr’s exotic beauty was heralded across Europe, but she became infamous for her nude scenes in the scandalous film Ecstasy. She became literally trapped in a marriage to Austria’s munitions baron, a man who befriended Mussolini and hid his Jewish heritage to become an “honorary Aryan,” at the beginning of World War II. Lamarr fled Europe for Hollywood, where she became one of its most glamorous stars, appearing opposite actors such as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and James Stewart. But as her beauty faded and she went from one husband to the next, her personal troubles and legal wranglings cast a shadow over her former image and phenomenal intelligence. Beautiful separates the truth from the rumors about Lamarr’s life, and highlights her astonishing role as inventor of a technology that has become an essential part of everything from military weaponry to cell phones. STEPHEN MICHAEL SHEARER is the author of Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, and writes for The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click HERE to order!