In 1937, a young Austrian-Jewish actor named Hedwig Kiesler left Europe to pursue her dream in America. Within months, she became one of the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood: Hedy Lamarr. Known as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” Hedy’s unforgettable face and mysterious allure would take her far in the film industry – but that wasn’t her only success story. In fact, her greatest achievement was an invention that transformed the technology that powers our world.

LBI Collections include rich materials on German-speaking Jewish immigrants and refugees in the Hollywood film industry, from Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle to director Ernst Lubitsch to film composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold to actors like Peter Lorre and Hedy Lamarr. 

Learn more at lbi.org/hollywood