Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr's exotic beauty was heralded across Europe in the early 1930s.

Yet she became infamous for her nude scenes in the scandalous movie Ecstasy. Trapped in a marriage to one of Austria's munitions barons, a friend of Mussolini's who hid his Jewish heritage to become an "honorary Aryan" at the onset of World War II, Lamarr fled Europe for Hollywood, where she was transformed into one of the film's most glamorous celebrities, appearing opposite such actors as Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and James Stewart.

As her career faded, she went from one husband to the next, her personal troubles and legal woes casting a shadow over her phenomenal intelligence and former image.

Stephen Michael Shearer separates the truth from the rumors regarding the life of Hedy Lamarr and highlights her astonishing role as the inventor of a technology that has become an essential part of everything from military weaponry to today's cell phones.

About the Authors:
Stephen Michael Shearer is the author of Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life and Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr. He has written for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and is also a former model and actor, having appeared on stage, on television, and in film. Shearer currently resides in Minnesota and New York City.

Robert Osborne is a Professor of Applied Policy Studies and Director of the Social and Policy Research Institute at the University of Ulster.