MOST MEMORABLE MOVIE ROLE(S): The lusty young wife who outraged and titillated audiences with her athletic nudity and (reportedly genuine) depictions of orgasmic rapture in 1933’s Czech film Ecstasy; and Delilah, to Victor Mature’s long-tressed biblical action-hero, in Samson and Delilah.
THE INTEL: Discouraged from pursuing more film roles by a domineering arms-manufacturer husband (whom she later divorced), Lamarr spent a great deal of time with technicians employed by her husband’s company. Gifted with a great ability for math, she kept up with the latest developments in military technology. A few years after she emigrated to America, the avowed anti-Nazi conceived — along with composer George Antheil — the idea of a secret form of communication based on a principle they called “frequency-hopping” for which they were awarded US Patent 2,292,387. Rather incredibly, the real fruits of their technology weren’t fully realized until the early ’60s, but it is still in use by telecommunication companies today.
CELEBRITY-BRAINIAC RATING, ON A “1” (SNOOKI) to “10” (COLLEGE PROFESSOR) SCALE: 9