Famous Names Remembered for the Wrong Reasons

While audiences watched Hedy Lamarr in elegant gowns and lavish MGM productions, she spent part of her private time sketching inventions. The Austrian-born actress had escaped an unhappy marriage in Europe and reached Hollywood, where films such as Algiers (1938) and Samson and Delilah (1949) established her as one of the era’s most recognizable stars. During World War II, she wanted to contribute more directly to the Allied effort.