Teenage swimming champion who made her film debut in a 1942 Andy Hardy film, "Andy Hardy's Double Life". Two years later Williams starred in "Bathing Beauty" (1944), the first of a series of effervescent MGM swimming musicals--a curious, if lucrative sub-genre, created especially for her--which continued to pull large, enthusiastic audiences into the mid-1950s. Among a number of bland, interchangeable efforts, her better films included "Neptune's Daughter" (1949), "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (1949, in which she did not swim), "Easy to Love" (1953) and "Dangerous When Wet" (1953), in which her pool partners included cartoon characters Tom and Jerry.To her credit Williams approached her lightweight roles with tongue firmly in cheek; this quality, besides her vivaciously sexy, radiantly healthy appearance and her suprisingly complex and entertaining water ballets, in which she swam, dived, posed and water skied, helps explain her decade of popularity in what theoretically might have been a very brief period of freak success. Williams' subsequent attempts at dramatic roles (e.g., "The Unguarded Moment" 1956) were less than inspiring and she wisely retired from the movies in the 1960s. She later enjoyed success in the swimming pool and swimming-for-fitness businesses and contributed to the acceptance of synchronized swimming--a sport she helped to develop through her films--as an Olympic event. In her later years, Williams was frequently visible as a wry, amusingly dishy chat show guest about the old Hollywood studio system days. Her third husband (from 1967 to his 1982 death) was actor Fernando Lamas, who was her leading man in "Dangerous When Wet".
Profession(s):
Actor, swimmer, singer, model, stock clerk, businesswoman
Sometimes Credited As:
Esther Jane Williams
Family
daughter:Susan Gage (born in 1953)
father:Lou Williams
husband:Leonard Kovner (married in 1940; divorced in 1944; met when he was pre med student at USC)
husband:Ben Gage (married in 1945; divorce became final in 1958)
husband:Edward Bell (married on October 24, 1994; met during 1984 Summer Olympics)
husband:Fernando Lamas (married in two separate ceremonies: a civil ceremony in Europe (some sources say in 1963, others 1967) and one in a church (Founders' Church of Relgious Science, near Hollywood) on December 31, 1969; born on January 9, 1915; died in 1982)
mother:Bula Williams (member of Ingelwood Board of Education and helped raise funds for neighborhood school's swimming pool)
son:Kimbell Gage (born in 1950)
son:Benjamin Gage (born in 1949)
step-son:Lorenzo Lamas (mother, Arlene Dahl; best known for his role as Lance on the long-running primetime soap opera, "Falcon Crest")
Companion(s)
Jeff Chandler
, Companion
, ```..worked together on "Raw Wind in Eden" (1958)
Venice Film Festival Most Cooperative Performer at the Festival Award 1957
Special Golden Globe Award for Hollywood Citizenship 1955
1994 Was one of the hosts of the musical compilation documentary "That's Entertainment III"
1961 Made one-shot return to films to play a leading role in "The Big Show"
1958 Last film for three years, "Raw Wind in Eden"
1957 Made TV debut in "Lux Video Theatre's The Armed Venus"
1955 Last major aqua-musical, "Jupiter's Darling"
1955 Ended MGM contract (date approximate)
1949 - 1950 Twice made the annual exhibitors' poll of top ten boxoffice stars; placed eighth both years
1942 Film acting debut in "Andy Hardy's Double Life"
1942 First came to attention in her first swimming film, "Bathing Beauty"
1941 Signed MGM contract
Won several local swimming championships; after earning the Pacific Coast Championship was signed for the 1940 Olympics (which were ultimately cancelled when WWII began)
Left college and worked as stock clerk and part-time model at I Magin store
Impressario Billy Rose co-starred her with Johnny Weissmuller in his San Francisco Aquacade; quit to marry first husband
Retired from the industry in the early 1960s