August 21, 1967: In Los Angeles, the actress Hedy Lamarr cries rape.
Hedy Lamarr was once said to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She said her beauty was her curse, and she may have been right.
She was an inventor as well as an actress. She was also married no fewer than six times, and was clearly an at times troubled woman.
In January 1966, she was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting goods to the value of $86, a not inconsiderable sum at that time. She claimed it was a mistake, something that is not quite believable.
On August 1, 1991 she was arrested for the same offence, this time for goods valued at $21. In spite of these two arrests being a quarter of a century apart, this strikes me as a pattern, in particular it reminds me of Lady Isobel Barnett who was convicted of shoplifting goods to the value of 87p in 1980. Four days later, she committed suicide.
Lamarr’s false rape allegation was made against her younger lover Donald Blythe. She claimed he forced her into her bedroom at gunpoint. Blythe was not armed when he was arrested. The day after his arrest, she declined to move forward with the case. Why do you think that was?
The article below was published in THE JOURNAL (Ogdensburg, New York), November 23, 1971, page 11.
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