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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
August 8, 1921
Died
June 6, 2013
Place of Birth
Inglewood, California, USA
Also Known As
- Esther Jane Williams
- America's Mermaid
Esther Williams
0.5 Popularity
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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Esther Williams, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
2024
🎬
2.0
Self
Hollywood Legenden
2004
0.0
Self
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
2003
7.7
Self (archive footage)
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
2002
0.0
Herself (archive footage)
The Original Mermaid
2002
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
2000
6.9
Self
Glorious Technicolor
1998
0.0
Self
Parkinson
1998
3.9
Self
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996
7.0
Self - Co-Host / Narrator
That's Entertainment! III
1994
Credits
Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
as Self (archive footage)
2024
0.0
🎬
Hollywood Legenden
as Self
2004
2.0
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
as Self
2003
0.0
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
as Self (archive footage)
2002
7.7
The Original Mermaid
as Herself (archive footage)
2002
0.0
Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
as Self (archive footage)
2000
0.0
Glorious Technicolor
as Self
1998
6.9
Parkinson
as Self
1998
0.0
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
as Self
1996
3.9
That's Entertainment! III
as Self - Co-Host / Narrator
1994
7.0
MGM: When the Lion Roars
1992
7.8
🎬
Stars and Stripes: Hollywood and World War II
as Self
1991
0.0
🎬
Pebble Mill
as Self
1991
3.1
🎬
Burt Reynolds' Conversations with...
as Self
1991
6.0
Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Bash
as Self
1990
6.6
Dance Crazy in Hollywood
as Self - Actress (archive footage)
1990
6.0
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
as Self
1987
5.7
Night of 100 Stars II
as Self
1985
8.0
That's Dancing!
as From 'Bathing Beauty' (archive footage)
1985
7.0
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
6.9
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage)
1974
7.4
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Self (archive footage)
1972
6.0
Magic Fountain
as Hyacinth Tower
1963
0.0
The Big Show
as Hillary Allen
1961
5.0
🎬
The Big Party
as Self
1959
0.0
Andy Hardy Comes Home
as Sheila Brooks (archive footage) (uncredited)
1958
4.5
The Donna Reed Show
as Molly Duncan
1958
6.2
Raw Wind in Eden
as Laura
1958
5.1
The Unguarded Moment
as Lois Conway
1956
6.2
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
as Sarah Harmon
1956
6.0
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
as Self
1956
6.0
The Steve Allen Show
as Self - Swimmer
1956
5.6
MGM Parade
as Self - Water Ballerina in 'Ziegfeld Follies' (archive footage)
1955
0.0
Jupiter's Darling
as Amytis
1955
4.3
🎬
The Jimmy Durante Show
as Self
1954
0.0
Reflets de Cannes
as Self
1954
2.0
Easy to Love
as Julie Hallerton
1953
6.1
Dangerous When Wet
as Katy Higgins
1953
5.9
The Oscars
as Self
1953
7.0
Million Dollar Mermaid
as Annette Kellerman
1952
6.4
Omnibus
1952
6.0
Skirts Ahoy!
as Whitney Young
1952
5.0
Callaway Went Thataway
as Esther Williams (uncredited)
1951
5.1
Texas Carnival
as Debbie Telford
1951
4.7
Pagan Love Song
as Mimi Bennett
1950
4.8
🎬
Lux Video Theatre
as Vicki
1950
6.3
Duchess of Idaho
as Christine Riverton Duncan
1950
4.4
The Costume Designer
as Self (archive footage)
1950
0.0
🎬
Screen Actors
as Self (uncredited)
1950
6.0
What's My Line?
as Self - Mystery Guest
1950
6.9
What's My Line?
as Self
1950
6.9
Neptune's Daughter
as Eve Barrett
1949
5.9
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
as K.C. Higgins
1949
6.6
A Guy Named Joe
as Ellen Bright
1949
6.6
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
1948
6.8
On an Island with You
as Rosalind Rennolds
1948
5.6
This Time for Keeps
as Nora Cambaretti
1947
5.2
Fiesta
as Maria Morales
1947
4.7
Till the Clouds Roll By
as Esther Williams - Signing Autographs (uncredited)
1946
5.7
Easy to Wed
as Connie Allenbury
1946
6.2
The Hoodlum Saint
as Kay Lorrison
1946
5.2
Ziegfeld Follies
as Esther Williams (segment "A Water Ballet")
1945
6.0
Parade of Aquatic Champions
as Herself
1945
1.0
Thrill of a Romance
as Cynthia Glenn
1945
6.2
Bathing Beauty
as Caroline Brooks
1944
5.7
Twenty Years After
as (archive footage)
1944
6.0
Andy Hardy's Double Life
as Sheila Brooks
1942
4.8
🎬
Personalities
as Sheila Brooks (screen test footage) (uncredited)
1942
0.0
Inflation
as Mrs. Smith
1942
5.0
Private Screenings
as Self
N/A
8.0