Seeking new purpose, Lamarr began inventing and had a drafting table installed in her studio. She created streamlined designs for the wings of the aeroplanes of businessman Howard Hughes, her then-boyfriend, to help them fly faster.

When World War Two hit, Lamarr had an idea. Together with her composer friend George Antheil, she worked on a “secret communication system” to guide Allied torpedoes safely and jam the frequencies of German ones. Though in 1942 they were awarded a patent for the technology, it was not employed until the Sixties, when it became the basis of wifi systems used today.

In later years, Lamarr became a recluse and underwent extensive plastic surgery to preserve her looks. She died aged 85 in 2000. A new documentary, Bombshell (out 9 March), features a rediscovered interview from 1990 in which she spoke of her hobby.

“Inventions are easy for me to do,” she said. “I suppose I just came from a different planet.”

The Forgotten Women series is part of Stylist’s Visible Women campaign, dedicated to raising the profiles of brilliant women past and present. Find out more about the campaign here, and see more Visible Women stories here.

Forgotten Women: The screen star who was also an inventor