Northern Ireland

Incredible story of Hollywood movie legend and inventor Heddy Lamarr brought to Belfast

Actress Emily Edertz in rehearsals for the title role in Stand Still and look Stupid', the story of Hedy Lamarr. Picture by Hugh Russell
Actress Emily Edertz in rehearsals for the title role in Stand Still and look Stupid', the story of Hedy Lamarr. Picture by Hugh Russell Actress Emily Edertz in rehearsals for the title role in Stand Still and look Stupid', the story of Hedy Lamarr. Picture by Hugh Russell

SHE was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world" - but never received the recognition she deserved for an invention that formed the basis for mobile phones.

The remarkable life of 1940s Hollywood 'bombshell' Hedy Lamarr will be dramatised over the next five nights in a new Belfast studio space as part of the Féile an Phobail festival.

Stand Still and Look Stupid will tell the story of how Austrian-born Lamarr - whose face was used to inspire Walt Disney's original Snow White - fled her home in 1937 as well as her husband, who was supplying arms to Hitler, to become a movie star and fervent anti-Nazi.

Filming by day, she spent her evenings at her drawing board trying to find a way to help the Allies win the war.

The enigmatic actress, who was married six times and had a colourful private life, created a device that allowed 'radio hopping' and developed a secret communications system - one that would lay the foundation for most of the world's secure systems, including military satellites and wi-fi.

The one-woman play features American actress Emily Ebertz and is being hosted by Belfast Exposed Photography co-founder Sean McKernan in his new studio in the city's Chapel Lane - that was once a newspaper's 'darkroom' during the Troubles.

Produced by a Colorado-based theatre company that stages plays in 'non traditional spaces', a question and answer session will follow each performance.

Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr earned the title of the most "the beautiful girl in the world" in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood
Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr earned the title of the most "the beautiful girl in the world" in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood Actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr earned the title of the most "the beautiful girl in the world" in 1930s and 1940s Hollywood