Actress Esther Williams of 'Million Dollar Mermaid' Dies at 91

The former MGM aquatic movie star passed
away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 91
in Beverly Hills.
Esther
Williams, a
teen swimming
champion who
turned into a
beloved star of
MGM's aquatic
movies in the
1940s and 50s,
has passed
away. Her
publicist
Harlan Boll
reveals that the
actress died
peacefully in
her sleep early
Thursday, June 6 in Beverly Hills. She was 91.
Williams initially dreamed of competing for the
Olympic Games in U.S. swim team. She won at
least three gold medals in the national
championship and was set to represent the
country in the 1940 Summer Olympics in
Finland, but her dream was crushed when the
Games was canceled because of World War II.
She was later spotted by MGM's producer while
doing a bathing beauty job at a World's Fair
and offered a chance to try her hands at acting
as the company was looking to follow their
rival 20th Century Fox which tapped Olympian
gold medalist Sonja Henie to star in a series of
commercially-success ice-skating movies.
"Frankly I didn't get it," she at first laughed at
the idea of becoming a movie star. "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." But she
agreed to at least give it a try because, like her
mother said, "No one can avoid a challenge in
life without breeding regret, and regret is the
arsenic of life."
Williams was first introduced in an Andy Hardy
movie, starring as Mickey Rooney's love
interest, and her debut got positive response.
"They did a sequence where I swam with
Mickey, underwater kiss, which was my idea,"
she once said. "They didn't think you could
kiss anybody underwater without drowning."
Seeing her potentials, MGM promoted her as a
leading star in "Bathing Suit" which turned into
a smash hit. The company then built a
$250,000 swimming pool for her. It was
stocked with special effect equipment to create
extravagant scenes like fireworks and colored
fountains, and a hydraulic lift that could raise
her 50 feet out of the water.
Williams starred in a dozen of movies including
"Jupiter's Darling" and "Million Dollar
Mermaid". A mixture of romance, comedy and
underwater spectacle, they were relatively
well-received, but she felt the need to break
out of her comfort zone. She begged MGM for
a more serious role in non-swimming film,
which they rejected but later reluctantly, gave
to her.
Her most successful non-aquatic movie was
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game" where she
played an owner of a baseball team which
players included Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
"MGM made money off me, but they never
understood the art form," she once said. "Not
until the fifth picture did I even get a
choreographer."
Her love life, unfortunately, was not as bright
as her acting career. At 17, she married pre-
med student Leonard Kovner whom she
supported by working at a department store.
The marriage ended in divorce which cost her
$1,500, all the money she had saved at the
time.
Her second husband was Ben Gage, with whom
she had three children. She lost even more
money as he spent $10 million of her saving
on alcohol, gambling and failed business
ventures and neglected taxes. By the time they
split in 1959, he left her a massive debt,
$750,000, to the Internal Revenue Service.
She tied the knot for a third time with actor/
director Fernando Lamas. According to New
York Times, he helped her to swim the English
Channel in "Dangerous When Wet" (1953). He
was the first man who gave her money rather
than taking it from her, but it came with a
heavy price. Her children were reportedly not
allowed to live with them or even to come to
their wedding.
After Lamas died, she married Edward Bell, a
professor of French literature 10 years her
junior. After making her final movie in 1961,
she started a swimwear line and taught kids to
swim. "I've been a lucky lady," she said. "I've
had three exciting careers."
Aside from being a box-office draw for MGM,
Williams was also appreciated for her
swimming skill and influence on synchronized
swimming. She was a 1966 honoree of the
Florida-based International Swimming Hall of
Fame.
In the wake of her passing, three-time Olympic
gold medal swimmer Rowdy Gaines tweeted,
"Esther Williams...our first female Michael
Phelps...RIP." Her stepson, actor Lorenzo
Lamas, wrote on his own page, "The best swim
teacher and soul mom RIP #EstherWilliams."