Author: Maureen Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a writer, actress, director, and producer. She has written for Turner Classic Movies, Stage Raw, @ This Stage, LA Weekly, and more. She is also working towards an MA in Arts Journalism at USC, reporting on arts, theatre, and entertainment. When not at USC, she works on theatre productions throughout Los Angeles (primarily as an assistant director). She is a native Angelino who hates driving and cites peacoats and scarves as her favorite clothing items. An Anglophile, she attempted to fulfill her dream of attending Hogwarts by completing her master’s in British History at the University of Oxford. She is a cock-eyed optimist, rom-com aficionado, classic movie buff, musical theatre geek, and general pop culture enthusiast.

This month in “Dame in the Game,” we take a step back from Hollywood to take a look at a star who made her most important contributions outside the entertainment industry. Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Keisler in Vienna in 1914, was known as “The Most Beautiful Woman in Films.” Throughout her life, she had a curious mind and, as her colleague George Antheil stated, “a natural aptitude for the rather unfeminine occupation of inventor.” At a time when women were praised far more for their physical attributes than their intellectual ones, Lamarr helped to invent a foundational piece of equipment…

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Welcome to “Dame in the Game” – a new column that takes a look back at women who’ve paved the way in the film industry, both onscreen and off. While the industry still has a long way to go to improve the representation of women, the opportunities we’re afforded today would not be possible without the women who crashed through barriers, studio rules, and gender norms & expectations over the course of Hollywood’s first one-hundred-years. This column will seek to elucidate their contributions and achievements, while also perhaps serving as inspiration for us contemporary “Mizzes in the Biz.” ************************************************************************************ We…

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