Hedy Lamarr is quoted constantly and sourced rarely. The line most people know her for was traced by Quote Investigator to 1941 gossip columns, not a press release. Her clearest statement about her own mind comes from a 1990 audio interview that sat unheard for decades before a journalist's tapes resurfaced it. This page keeps the wording and the sourcing attached to each other.
Verified quotes, with sources
On glamour, 1941 — traced by Quote Investigator to Hollywood gossip columns, with a partial version in Hedda Hopper's column that April and the full line spreading by August; QI's conclusion is that there is substantive evidence Lamarr actually said it (Quote Investigator; the full line is also reproduced on the official Hedy Lamarr site):
"Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid."
Most retellings keep only the second sentence and drop the setup, which turns a joke about manufactured glamour into a flat put-down of herself.
On her own mind, 1990 — from an audio interview with journalist Fleming Meeks, later revived for the 2017 documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Forbes):
"The brains of people are more interesting than the looks, I think."
On herself, in two versions — the polished line appears on the official Hedy Lamarr site: "I'm a very simple, complicated person." The raw, mid-thought version comes from a 1969 appearance on The Merv Griffin Show, transcribed in full by Science Friday:
"I want to be as simple– I am, I'm a very simple, complicated person."
Same sentiment, two textures — one cleaned up for print, one caught live.
On the book published under her name — in 1966, the ghostwritten Ecstasy and Me appeared under Lamarr's byline; she disavowed it afterward (official Hedy Lamarr site):
"That's not my book."
"Fictional, false, vulgar, scandalous, libelous, and obscene."
On finally being recognized, 1997 — Lamarr's reported reaction on receiving the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award for the frequency-hopping patent, more than fifty years after she filed it. EFF's own winners list confirms the award (EFF); the quote is recorded on the official Hedy Lamarr site:
"It's about time."
On inventing, as a habit — reported when she was asked about her skill as an inventor (Leaders.com):
"Improving things comes naturally to me."
The patent's own words
Not a personal quote, but worth reading alongside them: the language of U.S. Patent 2,292,387, "Secret Communication System," filed with composer George Antheil on June 10, 1941, and granted August 11, 1942. It describes synchronizing a transmitter and receiver using "records of the type used for many years in player pianos" so frequencies would change together in a pattern only the two ends knew (Google Patents). It is document language, not something she said aloud — but it's the sentence her fame as an inventor rests on.
Quotes to treat with caution
Lines that circulate on quote-aggregator sites (AZQuotes, BrainyQuote, Pinterest-style pages) without a dated primary appearance are not included here — treat them as unverified until traced to a source like the ones above. The 1966 book Ecstasy and Me is also worth handling carefully as a quote source beyond what's already excerpted above: the ghostwritten text is access-restricted in its digitized edition, so no further verbatim lines from it can be confirmed here. And "Hedy Lamarr invented Wi-Fi" belongs on the facts page — it's later journalistic shorthand about her invention's legacy, not a claim she ever made about herself.
Related pages
Hedy Lamarr hub · biography · her final years and death · the facts, sourced.
This site also hosts a conversational AI recreation of Lamarr, built on the same sourced record and labeled as exactly what it is. If a quote above raises a question the citation can't answer, you can ask her directly.