Who is esther williams

See all related lists ». Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDb page. Find out more at IMDbPro ». How Much Have You Seen? How much of Esther Williams's work have you seen? Girls Kick Butt Actor we lost in you'll miss most? See more awards ». Known For. Neptune's Daughter Eve Barrett. On an Island with You Rosalind Rennolds.

Million Dollar Mermaid Annette Kellerman. Show all Hide all Show by Hide Show Actress 33 credits. Sarah Harmon. Whitney Young. Hide Show Writer 1 credit. Hide Show Soundtrack 15 credits. Without a Guy? Hide Show Thanks 1 credit. Hide Show Self 57 credits. Self - Filmed tribute. Self uncredited. Self - Actress. It started out as an average Red Skelton vehicle, first called Mr Co-Ed, then Sing and Swim, but Esther's superb figure and pretty features were heightened by Technicolor to such an extent that her part was built up and the title changed.

A special foot square, foot deep pool was built at Stage 30 on the MGM lot, complete with hydraulic lifts, hidden air hoses and special camera cranes for overhead shots.

I ad-libbed all my own underwater movements. Variety magazine said that William was "pulled to stardom by her swimsuit straps". The movie was a bigger hit than anyone had anticipated, and MGM spent the following decade hiring writers to invent scripts which allowed Esther to get wet. She would later remark: "My pictures were put together out of scraps they found in the producer's wastebasket.

All they ever did for me at MGM was to change my leading men and the water in the pool. She was a bathing suit designer in Neptune's Daughter , keen to demonstrate her creations herself, and is the last woman to give into the blandishments of a handsome polo player Ricardo Montalban who sings to her, Baby, It's Cold Outside. Most of the time in Dangerous When Wet , co-starring her future husband Fernando Lamas, was taken up by her preparations to swim the English Channel.

The best moment is a dream sequence in which Williams anticipates a crossing with the cartoon characters Tom and Jerry, while trying to avoid an octopus in a beret who gropes her with six extra hands. However, she did not give in to groping very easily on screen: "My movies made it clear it's all right to be strong and feminine at the same time," she claimed.

In Fiesta , Williams struck a blow for senoritas' lib by proving herself the equal of any male matador, while in Take Me Out To The Ball Game in Britain, Everyone's Cheering, , she played the owner-manager of a baseball team, whose initial interest in Gene Kelly lies in his ability to play ball.

Inevitably, she thaws after a swim and falls for his rather blatant charms. Williams portrayed Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimming champion who introduced the world to the one-piece bathing suit — as opposed to a combination of dress and pantaloons — in Million Dollar Mermaid Returned to work seven months after giving birth to her daughter Susan to begin filming Jupiter's Darling In honor of her th birthday on August 8, , she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

I was called America's mermaid, because it appeared that I could stay underwater indefinitely. All they ever did for me at MGM was change my leading man and the water in my pool. No one had ever done a swimming movie before so we just made it up as we went along. I ad-libbed all my own underwater movements. I don't know to this day how I managed to fit into those bathing suits when I was pregnant, but I did. If you didn't make it in those pictures, you were never heard from again. MGM made money off me, but they never understood the art form.

Not until the fifth picture did I even get a choreographer. When I first started swimming, not many girls participated in the sport. They either didn't want to get their hair wet or wanted to go out on Friday nights instead of going to a meet. But as a result of the popularity of the water ballet, pretty girls began to swim. I've been a lucky lady. I've had three exciting careers.

Before films I had the experience of competitive swimming, with the incredible fun of winning. I had a movie career with all the glamour that goes with it.

That was ego-fulfilling, but it was like the meringue on the pie. My marriage with [ Fernando Lamas --that was the filling, that was the apple in the pie.

And I loved being a Latin wife--you get treated very well. Mayer , who had scolded her] Mr. Mayer, please don't yell at me. You can make movies, but you can't get to the end of the pool first. So you can't yell at me 'til you can.

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