How strange that I was right in the middle of the most wonderful MGM biography of the amazing Esther Williams when she passed away at aged 91.This book had EVERYTHING that I love and more - it put gossip columns and glossy magazines to shame.
Esther Williams was a young swimming champion, who missed out on her Olympic Dream when World War II broke out. She reluctantly answered the call of MGM studios, who designed 'aqua-musicals' specifically for her, creating one of the biggest box office stars of the 1940s and 50s.The book 'The Million Dollar Mermaid' is written by the star herself, and offers a 'tell-it-like-it-was' glimpse of Hollywood in its' heyday. By the time she retired at 37, because her third husband insisted she be out of the spotlight, she had made around $88million for MGM - and would have been a multimillionaire herself had her second husband not squandered it all away without her knowledge.
Esthers' personal life was one that often unravelled behind the facade of perfection that Hollywood painted, and this autobiography offers a rare glimpse at the life of a real movie star from the inside out.
Esther Williams Movies:
Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942)
A Guy Named Joe (1943)
Bathing Beauty (1944)
Thrill of Romance (1945)
Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
The Hoodlum Saint (1946)
Easy to Wed (1946)
Til the Clouds Roll By (1946)
Fiesta (1947)
This Time for Keeps (1947)
On An Island With You (1948)
Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949)
Neptune's Daughter (1949)
Duchess of Idaho (1950)
Pagan Love Song (1950)
Texas Carnival (1951)
Callaway Went Thataway (1951)
Skirts Ahoy! (1952)
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)
Dangerous When Wet (1953)
Easy To Love (1953)
Jupiter's Darling (1955)
The Unguarded Moment (1956)
Raw Wind In Eden (1958)
