# What movie star helped capture a spy ring? \[new title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357 "2001-10-19T02:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tanner1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@tanner1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanner1)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/1 "2001-10-19T02:57:35Z")
What famous television and movie star was responsible for capturing a WWII spy ring? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/2 "2001-10-19T04:36:03Z")
Perhaps you are referring to Lucille Ball. She supposedly picked up radio transmissions through her dental work. [Snopes says it’s undetermined](http://www.snopes2.com/radiotv/tv/fillings.htm) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/3 "2001-10-19T07:27:26Z")
I have changed the title of this thread from **Need to know** to **What movie star helped capture a spy ring?** In the future please try to choose more descriptive titles. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/4 "2001-10-20T15:11:46Z")
Possibly this is an oblique reference to Hedy Lamarr (sp?), who is coinventor on a U. S. patent for a method of transmitting and receiving radio messages while foiling espionage attempts. The method involves jumping around to different frequencies, and is a precursor to many modern frequency switching schemes in radio. I don’t know if her method helped capture a spy ring specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/5 "2001-10-20T15:51:52Z")
I don’t think Hedy Lamarr’s invention cracked any spy rings. From what I remember of a Scientific American Ariticle about it (April 1998), the War Department (was it the Defense Department by then?) decided that while the theory of her idea was sound, it wasn’t practical with the current technology. As a result, frequency hopping wasn’t put into practice until after the war. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/6 "2001-10-20T16:01:39Z")
What on earth is Hedy Lamarr’s background that she coinvented that?? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/7 "2001-10-20T16:14:11Z")
She was evidently pretty smart to begin with, and picked up a lot about weapons and wartime communication problems through her first husband, who ran a German munitions company. She discussed the matter with George Antheil, a composer who specialized in “experimental” music and together they came up with the idea. couple of websites: [http://www.geocities.com/vidkid\_allison/h\_lamarr/scigrrl.html](http://www.geocities.com/vidkid_allison/h_lamarr/scigrrl.html) [http://www.paristransatlantic.com/antheil/mainpage/patent.html](http://www.paristransatlantic.com/antheil/mainpage/patent.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/8 "2001-10-20T16:18:22Z")
Do a search on Google using the terms “Hedy Lamarr” and “spread spectrum” and you’ll find a bunch of websites about this subject, including the two that Sublight mentions. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/9 "2001-10-20T18:20:46Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s **HEADLY, DAMN YOU, HEADLY, NOT HEDY !! Headly Lamarr !!**. Mel Brooks: > [@](#): > > What are you worried about? It’s the 1880’s she won’t be born for thirty years, YOU CAN SUE HER !!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.White](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Mr.White](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.White)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-star-helped-capture-a-spy-ring-new-title/88357/10 "2001-10-20T19:07:52Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* \*\* > [@](#): > > It’s **HEADLY, DAMN YOU, HEADLY, NOT HEDY !! Headly Lamarr !!**. Mel Brooks: > [@](#): > > What are you worried about? It’s the 1880’s she won’t be born for thirty years, YOU CAN SUE HER !!! 😃 Damn your eyes! I had forgot about that line. Too bad I loaned my copy of Blazing Saddles and it did not come back home. Now I need to buy another one.🆒