
Esther Williams
Biography
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, and alongside Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film and 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 20 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.
Williams was also a successful businesswoman. Before retiring from acting, she invested in a "service station, a metal products plant, a manufacturer of bathing suits, various properties and a successful restaurant chain known as Trails." She lent her name to a line of swimming pools, retro swimwear, and instructional swimming videos for children, and served as a commentator for synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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Acting (46 movies)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game
1949

A Guy Named Joe
1943

Easy to Love
1953

Texas Carnival
1951

Andy Hardy's Double Life
1942

Million Dollar Mermaid
1952

Dangerous When Wet
1953

Neptune's Daughter
1949

On an Island with You
1948

Thrill of a Romance
1945

Bathing Beauty
1944

Easy to Wed
1946

Fiesta
1947

This Time for Keeps
1947

Till the Clouds Roll By
1946

Pagan Love Song
1950

The Hoodlum Saint
1946

The Unguarded Moment
1956

That's Entertainment! III
1994

Duchess of Idaho
1950

Hollywood: The Dream Factory
1972

Jupiter's Darling
1955

Raw Wind in Eden
1958

Skirts Ahoy!
1952

Glorious Technicolor
1998

The Big Show
1961

Inflation
1942

Dance Crazy in Hollywood
1990

That's Entertainment!
1974

Callaway Went Thataway
1951

Magic Fountain
1963

Night of 100 Stars II
1985

Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
2024

Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
2002

Ziegfeld Follies
1945

Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
2000

Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Bash
1990

That's Entertainment, Part II
1976

Twenty Years After
1944

The Costume Designer
1950

That's Dancing!
1985

Parade of Aquatic Champions
1945

The Original Mermaid
2002

Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
2003

Andy Hardy Comes Home
1958

Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987
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