Swimmer and Movie Star Esther Williams Dead at 91

Esther Williams

Hollywood legend and champion swimmer, Esther Williams has died in Los Angeles aged 91. According to her spokesman she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

Denied her chance of an Olympic gold medal as a swimmer in the 1930s, she was spotted by MGM and made a splash in the aquamusicals of the 1940s and 1950s. The lavish movies earned her the title ‘million dollar mermaid’ after the film of the same name.

She starred alongside Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra at the height of her fame before retiring from film in 1962.