Hollywood star Esther Williams dies at 91

Esther Williams - dubbed as Hollywood’s mermaid - has died peacefully in her sleep, as confirmed by her publicist.

09:20 10 June 2013

Esther Williams, a former champion swimmer who later became a Hollywood star, has died in Los Angeles, California. She was 91. The sad news was confirmed by her publicist saying that she died peacefully in her sleep.

 

Esther was a national swimming champion at the age of 16. In 1940’s, she started a career in Hollywood starring on “aqua-musicals” that were designed specifically for her. In here entire career in Hollywood, she made a total of 27 films. 

 

When her autobiography was released in 1999, she told reporters that she wanted to do something other than being the “Hollywood’s mermaid.” However, this did not sit well with the people who managed her career.

 

She said, as quoted in one report by the Independent: “I guess what MGM found was that my audience wanted that bathing suit.

 

“And you know, when Cinemascope came in and you've got that water all wrapped around you and they'd do big close-ups of me... I think it had too much pleasure connected with it for them to change it.”

 

She is survived by Edward Bell, a professor of French Literature; a daughter, Susan Beardslee; her son, Benjamin Gage; three stepsons, actor Lorenzo Lamas, Anthony Bell and Tima Alexander Bell, three grandchildren and eight step grandchildren.