Menu

Known For

Esther Williams is known for:

  • A Guy Named Joe
    Pete Sandidge, a daredevil bomber pilot, dies when he crashes his plane into a German aircraft carrier, leaving his devoted girlfriend, Dorinda, who is also a pilot, heartbroken. In heaven, Pete receives a new assignment: He is to become the guardian angel for Ted Randall, a young Army flyer. Invisibly, Pete guides Ted through flight school and into combat, but the ghostly mentor’s tolerance is tested when Ted falls for Dorinda. Ultimately however, Pete not only comes to terms with their relationship, but also acts as Dorinda’s copilot when she undertakes a dangerous bombing raid so that Ted won’t have to.
  • That's Entertainment!
    Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's 50 year history.
  • Take Me Out to the Ball Game
    The Wolves baseball team gets steamed when they find they've been inherited by one K.C. Higgins, a suspected "fathead" who intends to take an active interest in running the team. But K.C. turns outs to be a beautiful woman who really knows her baseball. Second baseman Dennis Ryan promptly falls in love. But his playboy roommate Eddie O'Brien has his own notions about how to treat the new lady owner and some unsavory gamblers have their own ideas about how to handle Eddie.

Related Actors

These actors are frequently suggested for roles along with Esther Williams.

Top Casting Suggestions

Esther Williams has been suggested to play 7 roles. Click below to see other actors suggested for each role, and vote for who you think would play the role best.

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.