please save to your own server.
if you have questions, concerns, requests, or
constructive suggestions,
please write to:
launched on: November 9th 2008
designed by: An Pham
layout: #6 (March 2011)
best viewed on mozilla firefox
Exclusive interviews with Mel Schonhaut, a friend of one of Hedy’s neighbors in New York
City, Arlene Roxbury, one of Hedy’s closest friends during her later years, and with author Stephen Michael Shearer.
Taken place in Barnes and Noble, NYC on October 1st 2010.
Big thanks to Peter Andres, frequent visitor and vivid fan for helping make all these possible.
Why didn’t Hedy return to Austria, even when she always considered herself a foreigner in America?
– Nici from Austria
SCHONHAUT: I do think she actually returned on a visit to Austria…perhaps in the ‘50s, and possibly because she felt herself [as] totally American. And she was indebted to this land; to the movie industry, where she had her economic support. Also, she did have unpleasant experiences escaping Fascism and Nazism. [Hedy fled the home of her first husband, pro-Fascist munitions magnate Fritz Mandl, one night in August 1937 and successfully made her way across the Austrian-French border to Paris that night.]
ROXBURY: She always wanted to return, but I guess she got so involved here and she had her children, grandchildren. But she really did, and that’s why in her will she put that her ashes would go back, and they did.
SHEARER: She did return to Austria. It was long after the war. She was married to Howard Lee [Hedy’s fifth husband and a Texas oil millionaire] in the 1950s and he did— as a gift to bring her out of a depression—send her over to Austria for the first time she’d been back there since 1937. And it was a very emotional reunion for her. Her family was gone; her cousins and her uncles and aunts were all gone after the war. She was an only child; she had no brothers or sisters. But she did go back to Austria. And when you read the book, there are many references throughout the years of Hedy’s desire to be in Austria. And after her death, her ashes were actually strewn in the Vienna Woods. So, she is in Austria now.
Of all the celebrities in the past, why did you choose to write a biography on Hedy Lamarr? Did she make any impact on way or another on your life?
SHEARER: Well, certainly she made an impact in my life. She was possibly the most beautiful woman I ever saw on the screen. It took me many years, though, to start appreciating her work. And when I did start studying her work, especially when I did this book, I, well…before I even began this book I could not understand why her life had not been chronicled by a definitive biographer before [sic]. But when I did begin my research and I studied each and every one of her films—to watch her growth, to watch her work even when she spoke phonetically when she first came to this country. She did learn the language, as I said, and her work improved a great deal even in some of the worst material she was handed. She did give good performances as a whole and her reviews as a whole were generally very, very good.
In the documentary Calling Hedy Lamarr, Hedy’s son Anthony Loder said the last half of his mother's life was wasted. Do you agree with him? And why do you think Hedy let her life go downhill like that?
– Sam from Missouri
SCHONHAUT: She may have had some mental problems…I think she was troubled. What I’ve read about her, she had these arrests for shoplifting. She may have been leaving in semi poverty. But I don’t think she wasted the last years of her life.
ROXBURY: Hedy’s life really did not go downhill. She was an “up” person. Very, very “up” person. In Calling Hedy Lamarr—which I’m also in—as you can see, [in] the film footage from Florida that I had personally taken, she was a very happy person in that film footage.
SHEARER: Her life, of course, was not wasted. Anthony and his mother—as many children and [their] parents have—they had difficulties with each other and Anthony never had a final resolution with his mother. The fact that her career did not continue was largely her own fault but also because she had matured and her image—her type of screen persona—faded as modern ‘50s came into being and other actresses took her place. But I don’t agree with Anthony in his evaluation that his mother’s life was wasted. She could have done a lot of other things; she could have done more productive things. But she was definitely a woman of her times. And she was used a great deal by not only the men she worked for and worked with, but also with several husbands. So, she was a spent force, definitely, at some point. But she did retire…to enjoy a peaceful existence the last couple of decades of her life…When you read the book, I think you’ll find that was a lot of positive [aspects] in Hedy’s last years.
Upon watching Calling Hedy Lamarr I had the feeling that Hedy’s children wanted to get closer to their mother but they couldn't, that they missed her presence in their lives even when she was still alive. I wonder if it is true? What do you think of Hedy as a mother?
– Katja from Germany
SCHONHAUT: I think she probably was a devoted mother…I believe she had an adopted son. There was some question of abandonment regarding him. So, in that instance, I would not call her a devoted mother regarding that other son. But I’ve read interviews with daughter Denise [Denise Loder-DeLucia], who felt that in the later years she was closer to her mother than ever, especially when Hedy Lamarr lived in Florida. So I do think she was a devoted mother, but she did have that dichotomy: that she had the career going at the same time. It’s not easy, really, in that instance. I would not call her a selfish person. I think she cared about her children. She probably was too intellectual; something we don’t realize… She wasn’t the type of mother to just take the children to a park and be solely concerned with them. I think she had other interests.
ROXBURY: Well, it was hard for Hedy to become the mother that she wanted to be because of the fact that working so many hours at the studio, and the certain times that she had to work. Like getting up at three o’clock in the morning, going down to the studio. I think it was difficult for her to really be an on-hands mother, and that’s why the children were sent to a school.
SHEARER: Hedy loved her children. Hedy was an only child. And with early interviews that I was able to obtain and with people that knew her…she always wanted children. And she did adopt one son, James. That particular relationship did not work out. As a mother, Hedy was, of course, different than yours or my mother. Hedy Lamarr was a Hedy Lamarr. And being a star, and for the most part the breadwinner of the family, she had a lot of obligations, a lot of things that drew her away from her children and her home…Denise has actually said, “We were sent to summer camp and to boarding school way too early in our years.” And Denise used to cry because she would miss her mother. She’d buy Hedy Lamarr paper dolls and play with them because she missed her mother so. The children were children of celebrity. They’re different than you and I. They didn’t have the same upbringing. They were constantly in the public eye…When they matured and grew up, there were many issues that were between them…But her children did love her and she did love her grandchildren. If you did watch that documentary, Hedy…is pointing out pictures of her children and her grandchildren, which flourished around her apartment. [Hedy lived for a time in Altamonte Springs, Florida, from 1991 to 1999, where this footage was recorded by Arlene Roxbury.] There’s a much better documentary called Hedy Lamarr: Secrets of a Hollywood Star and that one, to me, is the most accurate documentary ever made. There are other things out there, but to actually know the Hedy Lamarr, please read the book. But also if you have an opportunity to see documentary film footage or newsreels, she’s a very real, very human, human being. Issues with she and her children were between them and I didn’t necessarily delve into them too deeply in the book.
You surely have read Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman, Hedy’s notorious ghostwritten autobiograpgy. How much of it do you think was ghostwritten?
– Larry from New York
SCHONHAUT: That’s strange! I actually purchased that book in one of these back bookstores… I found it “unputdownable.” It was really salacious. I was wondering, because it has intimations of bisexuality: I remember reading one starlet came on to her in a dressing room and said, “You’re a woman lover! You’re really a lesbian!” Etcetera. It was fascinating to read. I don’t think it’s only 10% true. It’s probably more like 33.3% true…I wonder how true certain things are because I remember the book beginning with her saying she was eating day-old bread that she was able to buy with pennies in a bakery. Really, to think of someone who was at the height of stardom! She was actually a superstar, not merely a run-of-the- mill movie star. She was an absolute legend and her beauty made her that.
ROXBURY: A lot! A lot was ghostwritten, according to Hedy. She told me that personally. She did not like the book at all.
SHEARER: Hedy, of course, signed off on the book before she read it. And I do make a point in my book to point to the reader that at the onset of that particular book, it’s obvious that is not her voice talking. Her own children—her own daughter, rather—never read the book because her mother totally disowned it. However, there is Hedy Lamarr in that book. You can hear her talking—when she is talking about her career, when she is talking about Louis B. Mayer, and certainly when she is talking about her husbands. She could have crucified some of those men, but she always took the upper hand. The only time she was vicious in her divorce proceedings was when it dealt with money. But Ecstasy and Me is rather lewd; I even find it lewd today. And it was very exploitative and definitely pandering to the sex issues of the time. Most of it is fiction.
Hedy Lamarr was considered to play the leading lady in many successful movies such as "Laura" (1944), "Leave her to Heaven" (1945), and even "Casablanca" (1943), but in the end she didn't get those roles. Some sources said she was a poor judge of scripts. Other sources said it was Hollywood politics that resulted in her loss of the roles. What do you think is the actual reason why she didn't get to star in these movies in the end?
– Shayla from Los Angeles
SCHONHAUT: I think it’s a poor judge of scripts. I don’t think it was Hollywood politics. I think they would have adored her being in these films. I really think it’s simply a poor judge of scripts. I think she was beyond it. She was a bit flighty. I thought she thought, “If I turn this down, something better will come…tomorrow.” It was like Scarlett O’Hara: “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”…I think [it was] poor judgment and indifference.
ROXBURY: I know she was a little sad that she didn’t star in Casablanca. But at that point in her life, she was involved with other aspects and projects of her life. And that was the reason why. Otherwise, if she would have known—hindsight—she would have.
SHEARER: As a matter of fact, I wrote about each and every one of those movies and about a dozen others—not so famous films that she either turned down or she was not allowed to do. For Laura, she just thought the script sucked and she even told [Otto] Preminger after the film came out with tremendous box office hit…”I wish you would have handed me the motion picture soundtrack instead of the script, and then I would have done it.” But that she just definitely turned down. There were other films that she turned down, other films that were just preposterous for her. Pocahontas was one film that they had suggested for her. And MGM had all these stories. They didn’t know what to do with Hedy. Gaslight would have been perfect for her, but—and I’ll tell you the story about Gaslight, and it’s in the book—she was to be costarred with Charles Boyer and unfortunately she didn’t want second billing. She was a big star at MGM and he was on loan. But Boyer wanted top billing. Ingrid Bergman didn’t give a damn about billing and she won the role and also won an Oscar for it… I don’t know about Leave Her to Heaven…Blood and Sand was one film she was up for at Fox. But…they’re all covered in the book because I was able to get some background on them. But yes, a lot of choices were hers. Louis B. Mayer was not going to lend her out until 1944, and he lent her to Warner Bros. finally for…The Conspirators…and, of course, she was lent to RKO for Experiment Perilous, which she excelled in. She did do the two films Strange Woman and Dishonored Lady, and those were her choices. The scripts were poor, though. But Hedy sometimes was her worst enemy, but more times than any during that period of those films that you mentioned, it was Louis B. Mayer that would not loan her out.
I have heard the rumor that Hollywood will be making a biopic, "Face Value", about Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil. If you suppose this is true, how do you think the movie will make an impact on her legend? In a good way or a bad way?
– Jonas from Boston
SCHONHAUT: I don’t think it can be in a bad way at all. I think they’re going to really have to sex it up a bit because it’s really too scientific. So, they’re going to probably zero in on her movies roles; certainly Samson and Delilah and then include the scientific things very judiciously. It will help, you know.
ROXBURY: Probably a very good way.
SHEARER: I can’t remark too much about that movie because it has been in production and then it hasn’t been in production. I understand the book deals with Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil. I also understand by the man who is to be the leading character, George Antheil, it deals with a love story between George Antheil and Hedy Lamarr. There was no love story between those two. They were dear friends and Hedy was a good friend to Antheil’s wife Boski. That particular project has been in the works up and down for a long, long time. There have been numerous script problems with that. My understanding is right now that they can’t find backing. I think it would be a dishonor to both Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil to insinuate they were lovers, because they weren’t. They had a love of the same project; they wanted to give something to the country. Antheil’s brother had been shot and was killed during the war, so there was a dedicated effort to do something for the war effort. And I think to make a love story out of that and pander to that type of sensibility would be wrong.
I watched “Hollywood’s Scandals” and one of the scandals mentioned was that James Markey, Hedy's adopted son, was actually her biological son. I also thought that he, as a child, bore a striking resemblance to Hedy. Do you know Hedy's children personally? And do you know the truth behind Mr.Markey and Hedy?
– Cameron from Hong Kong
SCHONHAUT: No, I don’t know them personally. I think there may be some truth to the biological [sic]…I remember reading that he did some interview in one of the film magazines. Supposedly when he lived with another family for some reason, [his] absence added to her indifference to him. It really is difficult to understand. She had a Continental view of things, a very European view of things. She was not the grasping mother. She can let go, I think. I think there might be some substance to what he says. I think it should be really investigated further.
ROXBURY: Hedy’s children—after Hedy’s death—had DNA done with James Lamarr Markey, and he is definitely not the son.
SHEARER: Yes, I do know Anthony and Denise. I did not interview James because he seeks his privacy at this point. Certainly the documentary Secrets of a Hollywood Star does offer up some recent interviews with James. Yes, I am aware that after Hedy’s death—and he was not mentioned in the will—that that issue came up. However, they did apparently do some DNA tests, as Denise and Arlene Roxbury told me, and James was found not to be the biological son of either Hedy or John Loder. There are a lot of questions involved there. There has been another recent book about Hedy Lamarr [Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film by Ruth Barton] that has come out, and the author tends to dwell on that subject. That particular author did not interview friends, did not interview family members. I did not interview James; I respected his privacy. But I don’t have any opinions about that other than what I was told by authorities, so I believe my evaluation is factual…I did, of course, mention the lawsuit after Hedy’s death, but that it was resolved.
Hedy was arrested for shoplifting twice in her life (in 1966 and 1991). And I don’t think she was a kleptomaniac. Was she mentally ill at the time? Was she angry and desperate? Why do you think she did that?
– George from Wisconsin
SCHONHAUT: I think it’s a combination of all of these things. Don’t forget, there was another famous person who was arrested for shoplifting: Bess Myerson. And it was almost at the same age that this happened. I think things got just too much in her life [Hedy’s] and it was a combination of everything. I think there’s a certain amount of mental illness involved in it as well. I think she probably was in desperate need of therapy at that time and she wasn’t receiving it. I think her children should have been closer to her. Frankly, I understand she always spoke about her children and their families. I think they should have brought her into the fold. I think they were negligent, not Hedy.
ROXBURY: No, Hedy was not a kleptomaniac. Hedy was so used to having Neiman Marcus come to her home to shop and she would just pick things up. I went shopping with Hedy many times. Definitely, she was a not a kleptomaniac or a thief of any kind.
SHEARER: No, she wasn’t mentally ill. She was going through some very stressful times during the 1960s. She was about to start a new motion picture. Interestingly enough, in 1962 she was offered a stage play called Black Stockings…That particular play dealt with a woman who, on the eve of her society child’s wedding, goes to a famous shopping department store and steals black negligees and totally ruins her life because of that. Hedy turned that particular play down, and for some reason that whole scenario four years later played itself out in her actual life. Now, whether she was in acting or acting out frustrations in her own life it’s totally speculative. I also heard from other sources that she was set up. I did my research on this [and] certainly spoke with Robert Osborne [Turner Classic Movies primetime host and friend of Hedy in the 1960s], who stood by her side throughout the trial; and also with family members and again with people who knew her at the time, along with newspaper and court records. And, of course, she was acquitted for that. Hedy’s life was different than a lot of people’s, and when she would go into most department stores she just picked up what she wanted and then checked out, said, “This is what I’m taking,” and they would send her a bill. Which I believe that was exactly what she was intending to do. But for some reason, it played out differently…I think possibly her manager at that time very well could have had something to do with that particular scandal because she had a new film in the works at that time, which she didn’t play. The 1991 [incident], again, there was a very strange individual [a male transvestite]
that accompanied her to that drugstore…and that particular person—of course, I couldn’t find her interview—but they understood and her age that it could have been a memory problem. And so she was given probation on that. And at that point Hedy said, “I do not want to be in the limelight anymore.” No, she wasn’t any more kleptomaniac I thoroughly believe than you or I. It’s just she very could have been a victim of circumstance.
Why do you think she destroyed her beauty with plastic surgery?
– Martha from Chicago
SCHONHAUT: I wasn’t aware of that. Again, I think she had moments of very bad judgment, just as she passed up film scripts that were monumental films. I think she probably took advice of the wrong people. I remember seeing photographs of her—I think it’s in a recent book—where her face looked too taut. I think it was probably simply going to the wrong surgeons. It might have been thinking she could get work done at a lower price. She should have gone to the very best. I mean, we’re talking about someone who is unbelievably beautiful. You must go to the very best. Hedy Lamarr needs to remain beautiful… It was said of Elizabeth Taylor as well that she looked so magnificent at a certain point that these people should not age. It’s almost a Dorian Gray type of thing. You don’t want to see Hedy Lamarr age gracefully. You want to see her remain beautiful. It’s a selfish fan’s kind of response. You want to see her remain as beautiful as possible as long as possible.
ROXBURY: I guess she thought it was going to be a good thing for her. But I think she would have been better if she did not have the plastic surgery.
SHEARER: She didn’t destroy all of her beauty. If you look at pictures of her shortly before she died, she was still quite an attractive woman…But one thing about Hedy, though, as she aged she changed with the times. She was a very modern individual. She looked twenty, thirty years younger than she actually was. But she wasn’t Hedy Lamarr with the hair parted down the middle. And she couldn’t maintain that. I couldn’t maintain what I looked like when I was 20. And nobody can maintain the image that made her famous. She did do plastic surgery; a lot of people did. Her first plastic surgery was not very successful and she did have a couple or more. But she was not addicted to it. She didn’t continue doing that. But as she aged, of course, she did change. And if you did watch Calling Hedy Lamarr, a lot of that film footage in herlater life was taken out of context…this was an elderly woman who was enjoying the last years of her life, reminiscing, etc. And she still tried to maintain her looks. But she wasn’t grotesque. She wasn’t a circus creature. She aged as gracefully as she could. If I had the money, I would probably do it too.
There is not much information about Hedy in her pre-Hollywood years. I know she was a stage actress in Vienna. Do any records of her performances exist today?
– Amanda from the Czech Republic
SCHONHAUT: I would imagine nothing would exist today. Probably the most famous pre Hollywood moment is Ekstase. And there is really a lot about her upbringing. I mean, her being raised this sort of a wealthy Jewish family. Her father was a banker. There’s a surprising amount of information regarding where she resided. I think they’re still in existence. I was not even aware that she made other films that I found out this evening before Ekstase.
ROXBURY: No.
SHEARER: There were records. There are records that exist in Berlin, Germany in the Bibliothek there. And also in the Czech Republic, actually; I did some research there. She did more film work than she did stage work. She did a lot of stage work for Max Reinhardt. But yes, those programs, those playbills do exist. There’s some amazing pictures [that] I unfortunately could not get the rights to use in the book. But there are records that are still available, that did survive the war…And I think I chronicled everything in the book, including a play called Emma Taten, which I know nothing about other than it was a comedy. But I do mention it in the book.
What did Hedy think and feel about her plastic surgery?
– Lene from France
SCHONHAUT: That’s almost impossible to answer. If it was not successful, she probably felt she should have gone to someone better; maybe Dr. Pitanguy in Brazil, the famous surgeon. There’s some magnificent surgeons in New York City…Perhaps it was not too late to redo what they [previous plastic surgeons] did.
ROXBURY: She thought it was okay. She never said anything.
SHEARER: Hedy was not pleased with her first plastic surgery. She had her hands lifted, she had her legs lifted, and she had her face lifted. My understanding is only twice. But she simply did that because of personal issues. She wasn’t intending to put herself out in the public. She just did those for her own vanity reasons, without wanting scrutiny from the outside. And I think she was pleased, finally, with her last years because [she was] a very attractive elderly woman.
How was the relationship between Hedy and her parents? I heard that she loved her father very much but didn't get along well with her mother. Did the relationship between Hedy and her children somehow reflect the relationship between Hedy and her parents?
– Martina from Ukraine
SCHONHAUT: She brought her mother over from Vienna [to Hollywood during World War II], so I think the relationship was not as strained as we would imagine. I cannot also imagine her living in the security of the United States when these things were happening in Europe. And her mother was Jewish. So I would imagine it’d be a terrible strain to live under that, thinking that her mother in any day could be put in a concentration camp. She may have favored one parent; most people do…Hedy, as I mentioned, had a very modern, cosmopolitan, Continental feeling about upbringing. I think she felt that her children were intelligent, [that] they should be self-sufficient. She more or less let them let they do what they wanted to do. You know, it’s that old thing: “You do anything you want, as long as you don’t scare the horses.”
ROXBURY: She just did not get along with her mother. But she was her father’s apple. As you might know, she was an only child.
SHEARER: Her father adored Hedy…that was the apple of his eye. Her mother was very, very young when Hedy was born and Hedy said in later years she felt like she had to raise her mother. And most mothers and daughters are not as close as mothers and fathers. So, her relationship really wasn’t any different than a lot of other relationships. Her relationship with her mother: she supported her mother throughout her years in the United States and Hedy’s children then actually took care of Trudi as she approached her final years. But yes, her children knew that there was a relationship there between her mother and their grandmother...but it didn’t affect them in any particular way, one way or the other. There were a couple of incidents where she was punished by her father and she remembered those moments until the end of her life. But she loved her father very, very much and her children told me that.
Hedy Lamarr and Marlene Dietrich are my all-time favorite actresses and I know that they knew and befriend each other. Do you know about their relationship? Were they really good friends?
– Caroline from Germany
SCHONHAUT: That I really don’t know. I think Marlene Dietrich was an extraordinarily intelligent woman, so I don’t think she would have let someone like Hedy Lamarr disappear under the radar. I think she would have befriended Hedy Lamarr. First of all, one is from Vienna; one is from Germany. I think they were both extraordinarily beautiful. I think Hedy Lamarr was far more beautiful. They were both magnetic personalities. Both of them were too intelligent to not befriend each other. So, I think they probably were close friends. There must have been a rivalry because they were both great beauties. I think they were friends, but they were careful in their relations with each other.
ROXBURY: Yes, they were excellent friends. Well, they spoke quite a bit. Of course, they spoke the same German language; Marlene being from Germany and Hedy from Vienna with the German [language]. And in Hedy’s home, there were many pictures of Marlene that were signed to Hedy and vice versa.
SHEARER: Well, they certainly were good friends. Their common draw was Billy Wilder. Dietrich and Hedy—I don’t know whether they knew each other prior to Hedy coming to the United States, but certainly they spoke a common language and they understood film and beauty. It’s interesting, though, in one particular film with William Powell — Crossroads—there was a role that was portrayed by Claire Trevor. They offered that particular role to Dietrich and Dietrich realized that Hedy Lamarr was the star. And she said, “I share glamour with no one.” That wasn’t an insult to Hedy and Hedy did not take it that way. But Dietrich capitalized on glamour and she wasn’t going to share it with her friend Hedy. But they were indeed very good friends.
What did Hedy think of herself as an actress?
– May from Singapore
SCHONHAUT: I think she thought very little of herself as an actress; that I’m quite certain of. I think she felt that she was used primarily as this very cold, austere beauty and that her acting ability was beside the point. I think she was phenomenal in certain films. I agree with the author [Stephen Michael Shearer] that H.M. Pulham, Esq— I finally felt that she was magnificent in that. The thing about Hedy Lamarr is that she projected a coldness, and in I think in H.M. Pulham, Esq. that coldness seemed to melt a bit and I thought she was very warm and very giving in that performance. I think she was much better actress than she believed she was.
ROXBURY: She thought she was a fairly good actress.
SHEARER: Hedy worked very hard at her craft. Sometimes she succeeded, sometimes she didn’t. But watch when you watch her films. Watch her eyes, watch what she is trying to say behind that lilting Viennese accent. There’s truth there. And she always said, “I tried my best.” She wasn’t Bette Davis, she wasn’t Joan Crawford. She was Hedy Lamarr, and she did very commendable work. And she was pleased with her work.
I read that Hedy was very fond of painting and that she was a painter herself, as is her dauther Denise. Did she do a lot of paintings when she wasn't making movies? And where are her paintings now?
– An Pham from hedy-lamarr.org/
SCHONHAUT: I don’t know. They might be in some galleries in Florida. They probably were auctioned off with her things, and they would have been of great interest for people because they were painted by Hedy Lamarr. I think she did a lot of florals [sic], if I’m not mistaken. But I really wouldn’t know where they are.
ROXBURY: She did a lot of paintings and I have some of them in my home. She thought she was good.
SHEARER: She did paintings for years. She collected a lot of artwork…It actually helped support her in lean years. Most of her artwork was given to friends. A lot of her artwork is owned by her own children. She was very esoteric in her art; a lot of it was not appreciated as much then as it is now…She did a television show and Carl Reiner was the MC [Master of Ceremonies] of this show. And Carl and his wife—who was an art critic if you will, his beloved late wife—stopped by Hedy’s house and his wife was awed by the amount of artwork and the taste that Hedy had at that time in her collection. Hedy always appreciated fine art. Hedy did her own artwork. Hedy’s daughter’s favorite picture is in the book: of her mother painting on a beach…Robert Osborne in his foreword talks about the first time he ever went into her apartment and there was this atrocious painting that Hedy had done. And he was stunned by it. But Hedy thought he was in awe and she was very pleased that he appreciated her work. He never said anything to her about that. But her artwork is very vivid. I’ve seen a lot of her artwork. And Denise, of course, has a completely different style. Denise is a wonderful artist. And Denise actually sells her art pieces; I have a wonderful piece in my home. But Hedy’s work is not readily available. I don’t know if it ever will be.
Who were Hedy’s favorite composers?
– An Pham from hedy-lamarr.org/
SCHONHAUT: I would hope that they would be classical composers: Strauss [Johann Strauss II], Brahms, Bach, Franz Liszt—because I think there was a romantic side to her, so Franz Liszt—Chopin. I would imagine they would be mainly classical.
ROXBURY: She did love Strauss [Johann Strauss II] and all the Viennese waltzes
.
SHEARER: She said she liked George Antheil, but that’s selective taste…She liked swing music, she liked big band music, and she liked—especially during the war, when she was still relatively young—the music of the war era. Classical music, she was raised on that. So, there was a deep appreciation of that. But around her house, she often played popular music of the day.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Miklós Rózsa are among my all-time favorite composers. Both were active in Hollywood during the 1940s. Did Hedy, by any chance, happen to meet them and/or invite them to her parties in Hollywood? If so, what were her reactions to their musical skills and personal behaviors?
SCHONHAUT: I’m sure that she invited them. As I say, her intelligence was unquestionable as well…I personally love Korngold’s score for Kings Row, which I think is magnificent. I love Kings Row. That also stars an actress who was very underrated: Betty Field as Cassandra Tower…They would have been in Hedy’s parties, and she would have been warmer to them than to probably the normal, run-of-the-mill guests…She was someone who appreciated beauty in every way.
ROXBURY: I do not recall Hedy mentioning those names. However, she did like those types of composers.
SHEARER: I do know she knew Korngold. I didn’t write about it in the book because I don’t know the conversations they had or anything like that. But, of course, she loved anything Austrian. She loved anything European. And she spent a great deal of her time— when she was not married and when she did not have children prior to her children—with the European exports; the cinema exports that I write about in the book. People from her homeland, people from Europe transported over here; a lot of them Jewish. No doubt she had met them both…but didn’t run across anything in my research about her opinions of heir work…It’s interesting, though, about the European exiles. The wife of one very prominent exile said, “Before Hitler, we were Germans. Hitler made us Jewish.” [This quote is by Korngold’s wife Luzi and is present in Shearer’s book.] That wasn’t a denigration of the Jewish population. They didn’t see themselves as being different because of their religious beliefs. They weren’t treated differently in the United States, and religion was not mentioned in Hollywood. By the time the United States entered the war, Hollywood was called “The Weimar of the West Coast.” At any rate, I really don’t know how to answer that.
