Early Life
“My mother always called me an ugly weed, so I never was aware of anything until I was older. Plain girls should have someone telling them they are beautiful. Sometimes this works miracles.”
-Hedy Lamarr, 1928, Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
In 1914, at the start of WWI, Hedy (Hedwig Kiesler) was born in Vienna, Austria. Lamarr was an only child born into a well-to-do Jewish family, with her father a director at the Bank of Vienna, and her mother a concert pianist. Lamarr was privately tutored and at age five, curious about the inner workings of things, she could be found taking apart her music box. By age ten, she had also proven herself to be an exceptional pianist and dancer. She had the opportunity, unlike many other women of the time, to attend school in Vienna and Switzerland, learning four languages. At age 16, she enrolled in an acting school.
"The brilliant mind of Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr", Alexandra Dean, director of "Bombshell', March 10, 2018, PBS NewsHour
"Hedy Kiesler, age 6 and father, Emil Kiesler", Vienna, 1920 "Hedy Kiesler, age 17, playing Empress Elisabeth of Austria on Vienna stage", 1931
"I was born an only child in Vienna, Austria. My father found hours to sit by me by the library fire and tell fairy stories."
- Hedy Lamarr in "Her Words", 2014