Esther Williams made a unique splash in films

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Esther Williams would have been the first to laugh at the famous quote, attributed to many, that described her Hollywood success: "Wet, she is a star."

The swimming champion-turned-actress, who died in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on Thursday at age 91, was one of the shimmering lights of the Technicolor water musicals of the 1940s and 1950s.

"She was a major, major star, a tremendous box office attraction," says film historian Leonard Maltin.

"Esther Williams had one contribution to make to movies — her magnificent athletic body," wrote The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael. "And for over 10 years MGM made the most of it, keeping her in clinging, wet bathing suits and hoping the audience would shiver."

After her dream of swimming in the 1940 Helsinki Olympics was squashed when the event was canceled due to World War II ("It was her one big regret not swimming in those Games," says Maltin), she made an unlikely detour to Hollywood.

Williams became one of the great moneymakers of that era by appearing in spectacular swimsuit numbers that capitalized on her wholesome beauty and perfect figure.

The popular pin-up for WW II G.I.s starred in films such as Easy to Wed (1946), Neptune's Daughter (1949) and Dangerous When Wet (1953), which followed the same formula: romance, music, a bit of comedy and a flimsy plot that provided excuses to get Williams into the water.

Williams' co-stars included the pick of the MGM contract list, including Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalbán and Howard Keel.

"Her movies were always very amusing, highly enjoyable and certainly colorful," says Maltin.

When hard times signaled the end of big studios and costly musicals in the mid-'50s, Williams tried non-swimming roles. But with her 1969 marriage to third husband Fernando Lamas, her co-star in Dangerous When Wet, she retired from public life.

She explained in a 1984 interview: "A really terrific guy comes along and says, 'I wish you'd stay home and be my wife,' and that's the most logical thing in the world for a Latin. And I loved being a Latin wife — you get treated very well. There's a lot of attention in return for that sacrifice."

Williams' stepson, the actor Lorenzo Lamas, called her "my soul mom,'' in a statement. "Essie was my rock. She filled in the gaps with love and humor. She was the bridge to my father's heart and the best swim coach on the planet."

Mickey Rooney, who starred in MGM's Andy Hardy's Double Life in 1942 and received an underwater kiss from Williams, said in a statement to USA TODAY: "She was talented and beautiful and kind. What more can you ask for? As long as I've known her she was nice to just absolutely everyone. I never heard anyone say a bad word about her. That's just how she was."

Esther Jane Williams grew up destined for a career in athletics. She was born Aug. 8, 1921, in Inglewood, a suburb southwest of Los Angeles, one of five children.

A public pool was near the modest home where Williams was raised, and it was there that an older sister taught her to swim. They saved the 10-cent admission by counting 100 towels.

In 1939, she won the Women's Outdoor Nationals title in the 100-meter freestyle, set a record in the 100-meter breaststroke and was a part of several winning relay teams. After the 1940s Olympics were canceled she was selling clothes in a Wilshire Boulevard department store in L.A. when showman Billy Rose tapped her for a bathing-beauty job at the World's Fair in San Francisco.

While there, she was spotted by an MGM producer and an agent. She laughed at the suggestion she do films that would popularize swimming.

"Frankly, I didn't get it," she recalled. "If they had asked me to do some swimming scenes for a star, that would have made sense to me. But to ask me to act was sheer insanity."

She finally agreed to visit MGM boss Louis B. Mayer, and recalled that she took the job after her mother told her: "No one can avoid a challenge in life without breeding regret, and regret is the arsenic of life."

After Lamas' death in 1982, Williams regained the spotlight. Having popularized synchronized swimming with her movies, she was co-host of the event on television at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

"Possibly her lasting her lasting legacy is the existence of synchronized swimming, which is what she did in her extremely popular MGM musicals," says Maltin. "She did what you might call underwater ballet.''

"I've been a lucky lady," Williams said in a 1984 interview with the Associated Press. "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 glamor that goes with it. That was ego-fulfilling, but it was like the meringue on the pie. My marriage with Fernando —that was the filling, that was the apple in the pie."

An Associated Press report was used in this story







