Esther Williams
Acting • Born 1921-08-08 – Died 2013-06-06
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.
Filmography
70 credits
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Movie • 1949
K.C. Higgins
Hollywood Legenden
Movie • 2004
Self
A Guy Named Joe
Movie • 1944
Ellen Bright
Easy to Love
Movie • 1953
Julie Hallerton
Texas Carnival
Movie • 1951
Debbie Telford
Andy Hardy's Double Life
Movie • 1942
Sheila Brooks
Million Dollar Mermaid
Movie • 1952
Annette Kellerman
Dangerous When Wet
Movie • 1953
Katy Higgins
Neptune's Daughter
Movie • 1949
Eve Barrett
On an Island with You
Movie • 1948
Rosalind Rennolds
Thrill of a Romance
Movie • 1945
Cynthia Glenn
Bathing Beauty
Movie • 1944
Caroline Brooks
Easy to Wed
Movie • 1946
Connie Allenbury
Fiesta
Movie • 1947
Maria Morales
This Time for Keeps
Movie • 1947
Nora Cambaretti
Till the Clouds Roll By
Movie • 1946
Esther Williams - Signing Autographs (uncredited)
Pagan Love Song
Movie • 1950
Mimi Bennett
The Hoodlum Saint
Movie • 1946
Kay Lorrison
The Unguarded Moment
Movie • 1956
Lois Conway
That's Entertainment! III
Movie • 1994
Self - Co-Host / Narrator
Duchess of Idaho
Movie • 1950
Christine Riverton Duncan
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Movie • 1972
Self (archive footage)
Jupiter's Darling
Movie • 1955
Amytis
Raw Wind in Eden
Movie • 1958
Laura
Skirts Ahoy!
Movie • 1952
Whitney Young
Glorious Technicolor
Movie • 1998
Self
The Big Show
Movie • 1961
Hillary Allen
Inflation
Movie • 1942
Mrs. Smith
Dance Crazy in Hollywood
Movie • 1990
Self - Actress (archive footage)
That's Entertainment!
Movie • 1974
(archive footage)
Callaway Went Thataway
Movie • 1951
Esther Williams (uncredited)
Magic Fountain
Movie • 1963
Hyacinth Tower
Night of 100 Stars II
Movie • 1985
Self
Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
Movie • 2024
Self (archive footage)
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
Movie • 2002
Self (archive footage)
Ziegfeld Follies
Movie • 1945
Esther Williams (segment "A Water Ballet")
Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Bash
Movie • 1990
Self
That's Entertainment, Part II
Movie • 1976
(archive footage)
Twenty Years After
Movie • 1944
(archive footage)
The Costume Designer
Movie • 1950
Self (archive footage)
That's Dancing!
Movie • 1985
From 'Bathing Beauty' (archive footage)
Parade of Aquatic Champions
Movie • 1945
Herself
The Original Mermaid
Movie • 2002
Herself (archive footage)
Personalities
Movie • 1942
Sheila Brooks (screen test footage) (uncredited)
Screen Actors
Movie • 1950
Self (uncredited)
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
Movie • 2003
Self
Andy Hardy Comes Home
Movie • 1958
Sheila Brooks (archive footage) (uncredited)
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Movie • 1987
Self
Stars and Stripes: Hollywood and World War II
Movie • 1991
Self
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
TV • 1996
Self
Omnibus
TV • 1952
Private Screenings
TV
Self
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Vicki
The Donna Reed Show
TV • 1958
Molly Duncan
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV • 1956
Self
MGM: When the Lion Roars
TV • 1992
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Sarah Harmon
The Steve Allen Show
TV • 1956
Self - Swimmer
Pebble Mill
TV • 1991
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Jimmy Durante Show
TV • 1954
Self
MGM Parade
TV • 1955
Self - Water Ballerina in 'Ziegfeld Follies' (archive footage)
Burt Reynolds' Conversations with...
TV • 1991
Self
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
The Big Party
TV • 1959
Self
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self - Mystery Guest
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self
Reflets de Cannes
TV • 1954
Self
Parkinson
TV • 1998
Self