Aloofness was something Hedy didn’t — cou
dn’t – project after the publicity surrounding her running around naked for ten minutes in Ecstasy. That picture made her a sensation long before she sailed past Ellis Island on
he Normandie. In fact, she was barely off the
ship before reporters surrounded her with questins about it. She must have thought
she was getting away
from
it, as she was so u
pset she had to take Websites refuge at the Plaza until her train left for California.
As a kid from a town in Upstate New York, I didn’t know from Ecstasy but I sure knew from Hedy when I saw her on The Late Show in Boom Town and The Conspirators. Frankly, I’d never seen anything like her, and when Samson and Delilah was re-released in 1959 I stayed in the theater for three shows.
I could say she was underrated, but what I really think is that she was underappreciated, most likely because of her beauty. Surprisingly modest in person, Hedy nonetheless had a great sense of humor which I think came across best in My Favorite Spy. [MGM head Louis B.] Mayer briefly pushed her as a new Garbo but it was quickly apparent that she had more to offer than copycat glamour. She had her own brand of style and, when she had the chance, of acting. When she got to Hollywood and made Algiers, everybody was copying her. [Joan Bennett, in fact, went from cutesy blonde to Lamarr-ish brunette at that time.]
As an European star during World War II she had a lot stacked against her, but she became a big star and a household name nonetheless. She deserves to be remembered.
Hedy Lamarr, William Powell in The Heavenly Body
What would you say was Hedy Lamarr’s forte as an actress?
As an actress, I think Hedy’s forte was surprise. True, the reason she got butts into seats was her beauty, but once they were there she let them know there was more to her than the languid beauty of Algiers, much more than just soulful eyes and a hairdo.
After all, this woman had studied with Max Reinhardt and had starred on the Viennese stage in Sissi, giving a remarkable performance. Hollywood just looked at the face and thought that anyone who looked that good couldn’t possibly have talent, but when she needed it it was there. Her pal Clark Gable first helped show it off in Comrade X [right].
Though it’s endlessly dismissed as a Ninotchka rip-off, the movie is a hilarious take-off on wartime prejudices and sensibilities, and Hedy surprised everyone with her comic sense. Stripped of glamour, she exuded a slap-on-the-shoulder charm she rarely got to exercise. She wasn’t funny again until the much calmer The Heavenly Body three years later.