Esther Williams
American swimmer and actress (1921–2013)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1923
- Died
- 2013-06-06
- Works
- 8
Top works
- The million dollar mermaid
- The million dollar mermaid
- Million Dollar Mermaid Bookmark
- The Path of Prayer
- A new pebble in science
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Acting · Inglewood, California, USA
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move…
Known for
- Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid — Self (archive footage)2024
- The Fabulous Allan Carr — Self (archive)2017
- Hollywood Legenden — Self2004
- Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof — Self2003
- Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer — Self (archive footage)2002
Article
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold medal-winner and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. Williams caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, then with Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, and with future five-time co-star Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronised swimming and diving.
Every year from 1945 to 1949 Williams had at least one film among the twenty highest-grossing films of the year. In 1952 Williams appeared in her only biographical role as Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid, which went on to become her nickname while she was at MGM. Williams left MGM in 1956 and appeared in a handful of unsuccessful feature films, followed by several extremely popular water-themed network television specials, including one from Cypress Gardens, Florida.
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Categories
1921 births2013 deaths20th-century American actresses20th-century American businesspeople20th-century American businesswomenActresses from Inglewood, CaliforniaAmerican autobiographersAmerican female swimmersAmerican film actressesAmerican memoiristsAmerican television actressesAmerican women autobiographers