Cast & creator
Esther Williams
Best known for What's My Line?, The Donna Reed Show, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
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.
Also known as: Esther Jane Williams, America's Mermaid
52
film credits
19
television credits
71
1942–2024 · acting roles
6.4
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (71)
Showing 71 of 71 credits
What's My Line?
Self
1950
The Donna Reed Show
Molly Duncan
1958
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Sarah Harmon
1956
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Parkinson
Self
1998
The Steve Allen Show
Self - Swimmer
1956
Omnibus
1952Pebble Mill
Self
1991
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
Self
1956
The Oscars
Self
1953
MGM Parade
Self - Water Ballerina in 'Ziegfeld Follies' (archive footage)
1955Lux Video Theatre
Vicki
1950
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Self
1996
Reflets de Cannes
Self
1954The Jimmy Durante Show
Self
1954The Big Party
Self
1959
Private Screenings
Self
1996
MGM: When the Lion Roars
1992Burt Reynolds' Conversations with...
Self
1991
Bathing Beauty
Caroline Brooks
1944
Till the Clouds Roll By
Esther Williams - Signing Autographs (uncredited)
1946
Listen to Me Marlon
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2015
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976
Night of 100 Stars II
Self
1985
The Costume Designer
Self (archive footage)
1950
That's Entertainment! III
Self - Host
1994
Neptune's Daughter
Eve Barrett
1949
A Guy Named Joe
Ellen Bright
1944
The Fabulous Allan Carr
Self (archive footage)
2017
Thrill of a Romance
Cynthia Glenn
1945
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
1974
Ziegfeld Follies
Esther Williams (segment "A Water Ballet")
1945
Fiesta
Maria Morales
1947
On an Island with You
Rosalind Rennolds
1948
Tom & Jerry's 50th Birthday Bash
Self
1990
Jupiter's Darling
Amytis
1955
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
1972
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
K.C. Higgins
1949
That's Dancing!
From 'Bathing Beauty' (archive footage)
1985
Glorious Technicolor
Self
1998
Dangerous When Wet
Katy Higgins
1953
Million Dollar Mermaid
Annette Kellerman
1952
Andy Hardy Comes Home
Sheila Brooks (archive footage) (uncredited)
1958
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
1944
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Self
1987
Dance Crazy in Hollywood
Self - Actress (archive footage)
1990
Duchess of Idaho
Christine Riverton Duncan
1950
Easy to Wed
Connie Allenbury
1946
Andy Hardy's Double Life
Sheila Brooks
1942
Raw Wind in Eden
Laura
1958
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer
Self (archive footage)
2002
Easy to Love
Julie Hallerton
1953
Hollywood Musicals of the 40's
Self (archive footage)
2000
This Time for Keeps
Nora Cambaretti
1947
Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof
Self
2003Stars and Stripes: Hollywood and World War II
Self
1991
Parade of Aquatic Champions
Herself
1945
The Hoodlum Saint
Kay Lorrison
1946
Callaway Went Thataway
Esther Williams (uncredited)
1951
The Unguarded Moment
Lois Conway
1956
The Big Show
Hillary Allen
1961Hollywood Legenden
Self
2004Personalities
Sheila Brooks (screen test footage) (uncredited)
1942
Texas Carnival
Debbie Telford
1951
Skirts Ahoy!
Whitney Young
1952
Esther Williams: Hollywood's Mermaid
Self (archive footage)
2024
Pagan Love Song
Mimi Bennett
1950Screen Actors
Self (uncredited)
1950
Magic Fountain
Hyacinth Tower
1963
Inflation
Mrs. Smith
1942
The Original Mermaid
Herself (archive footage)
2002