Hedy Kiesler receives a standing ovation as Empress Elizabeth while arms dealer Fritz Mandl remains standing alone in the theater.

Fritz visits the Kiesler family home to formally request permission to take Hedy out.

Fritz proposes marriage with a diamond ring at dinner; Hedy accepts and agrees to give up acting forever.

Fritz and Hedy marry and honeymoon in Venice, where he begins controlling her appearance and daily behavior.

Fritz drags Hedy back to their hotel room and rapes her after a man challenges him on the dance floor.

Hedy eavesdrops on two men discussing a planned Schutzbund uprising and excitedly reports the information to Fritz.

Austrian civil war breaks out; Hedy visits her parents and realizes Fritz's allies are antisemites toasting against Jews.

Fritz screens Ecstasy for dinner guests; furious afterward, he installs seven new locks on the front door to imprison Hedy.

Hedy lures Ferdinand Starhemberg into taking her to Budapest; Fritz is waiting at the train station and rapes her.

Hedy drugs her look-alike maid Laura, disguises herself in a servant's outfit, and escapes Austria with the Cartier jewels.

Hedy boards the Normandie, descends the ballroom staircase in her finest dress, impresses Mayer, and negotiates a Hollywood contract.

German troops march into Austria and are met with cheers; the country is absorbed into the Reich.

Hedy learns that Germany torpedoed a ship carrying ninety British children; she vows to become a weapon against Hitler.

Hedy and George Antheil complete a frequency-hopping torpedo system modeled after player piano ribbon mechanics.

Hedy performs at the US Victory Show and raises over two million dollars in war bonds for the Allied forces.

Hedy Kiesler's story begins on the Vienna stage where arms dealer Fritz Mandl claims her as his own, leading to a controlling and abusive marriage that draws her into the political world of pre-war Europe. After surviving escalating abuse and two escape attempts, Hedy flees Austria disguised as her own maid, eventually engineering a Hollywood contract that transforms her into Hedy Lamarr. Though she achieves fame, her guilt over the Jewish people suffering in Europe drives her to channel her knowledge of Nazi weapons into a collaboration with composer George Antheil. Together they create a groundbreaking frequency-hopping torpedo system, only to have it dismissed by the US Navy. Hedy ultimately accepts the world's narrow view of her and uses her celebrity to raise millions for the Allied war effort, finding that the mask she wore her whole life may be the only weapon the world will allow her to use.

The headline events of Hedy Lamarr's transformation from actress to inventor.

Hedy reads the card on her dressing room roses and learns Fritz Mandl is the arms dealer called the Merchant of Death.

Hedy's father explains that Fritz controls Austria's independence from Germany and that his attentions cannot safely be ignored.

Fritz takes Hedy to an elaborate candlelit dinner and bonds with her over their shared desire to escape their reputations.

Fritz asks Hedy's father for her hand in marriage; her father reveals his deep fear for their Jewish family's safety.

Fritz demands Hedy convert from Judaism to Christianity before the wedding; she agrees in order to protect her family.

Fritz introduces Hedy to Villa Fegenberg and dismisses her hosting ideas, saying her beauty alone is enough to carry.

Fritz welcomes Hedy into his political meetings after she proves useful, exposing her to fascist leaders and weapons manufacturers.

Nazis stage a coup and assassinate Austrian leader Dollfuss while Fritz and Hedy attend Prince Ernst's elaborate party.

Hedy begins hoarding money and overhears guests discussing the Germans' unsolved radio-frequency jamming problem with their torpedoes.

Hedy's father suffers a severe angina attack; he extracts a promise from Hedy to stay with Fritz and protect the family.

Hedy meets screenwriter Gene Markey at a Hollywood party; the two fall quickly in love and marry.

Hedy's immigrant circle passes around information about a network smuggling endangered children from Germany; Hedy picks up the paper.

Hedy and Gene amicably end their marriage after recognizing their fundamentally opposite personalities; Hedy retains custody of Jamesie.

The National Inventors' Council recommends Hedy and George's torpedo invention to the US Navy for military consideration.

The US Navy formally rejects Hedy and George's frequency-hopping system by letter, claiming the device is impractically heavy.

This pool traces the essential secondary events that formed the scaffolding of Hedy's journey, beginning with her learning Fritz Mandl's dangerous reputation and her father's political reasoning for accepting his courtship. Through pivotal moments like Fritz admitting her into his secretive world of weapons dealers and politicians, and the Nazi assassination of Austria's leader during a lavish party, Hedy witnesses firsthand how fascism quietly devours a country. After escaping to Hollywood, she navigates the industry's own cruelties while finding love with Gene Markey and purpose through adoption. Her partnership with George Antheil produces an invention recognized by the National Inventors' Council, only to be rejected by the Navy on paper. These events reveal the forces that steadily drove Hedy toward her greatest achievement while documenting the many systems, both foreign and familiar, that conspired to hold her back.

The supporting events that shaped Hedy's path from Vienna to Hollywood.

Hedy's father reveals that Fritz Mandl's power and connections may be the only protection available for their Jewish family.

Fritz delivers the Cartier jewels to Hedy's hotel room after she agrees to convert her religion and abandon her heritage.

Mussolini visits the Mandl estate for dinner; he dances with Hedy and whispers that he enjoyed watching her in Ecstasy.

Hedy overhears Fritz telling the Starhemberg brothers that he could become an honorary Aryan and sell arms directly to Germany.

Hedy secretly listens as Hitler visits her home and Fritz agrees to help him permanently remove Jews from Austrian society.

Hedy's father dies; Fritz later finds Hedy swimming nude in a lake and strikes her, declaring her body belongs to him.

Hedy visits her mother hoping to bring her on her escape; her mother refuses to leave and dismisses Hedy's fears.

Louis B. Mayer warns Hedy that Americans won't tolerate Jewish actresses and insists her heritage and history be completely rewritten.

Mrs. Mayer interrupts her husband's sexual proposition to Hedy and maneuvers him into offering Hedy the lead role in Algiers.

The director of Algiers rejects Hedy's acting suggestions, insisting her character must inspire the audience only through beauty and silence.

Hedy's mother sends coded letters expressing regret; Hedy also discovers that American immigration policies deliberately prevent European refugees from entering.

Hedy completes the adoption of a baby from a network rescuing children from Germany, seeking to atone for her guilt.

Playing a piano duet with composer George Antheil at a party inspires Hedy to propose their frequency-hopping invention collaboration.

George kisses Hedy in excitement over their torpedo breakthrough; she furiously rejects his advance but ultimately forgives him.

Hedy and George travel to Washington DC; the Navy council thanks her politely and tells her to stick to making films.

This pool focuses on the critical moments of discovery and decision that defined Hedy's transformation, beginning with her father's revelation that Fritz Mandl offered their only protection as Jews in an increasingly dangerous Austria. Shattering revelations accumulate as Mussolini makes advances at her own dinner table and Hedy secretly overhears Hitler himself inside her home, confirming that her husband is complicit in the Final Solution. Her escape to Hollywood brings new forms of the same oppression, as Mayer demands she erase her Jewish identity and a film director insists she inspire audiences only through beauty and silence. A piano duet with George Antheil sparks the invention that Hedy hopes will redeem her years of silence, but the Navy council's dismissal in Washington DC delivers the final blow to her dream of being seen as more than a face. Each turning point adds another layer to the mask Hedy must wear, making the tragedy of her unrecognized genius both personal and universal.

The revelations and turning points that redefined who Hedy was and what she fought for.