Highest rated movie: Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer (2002)
Lowest rated movie: Texas Carnival (1951)
Related actors:
Related directors:
More About This Page
Looking for reviews of Esther Williams movies? Cinafilm has a total of 296 reviews across 24 movies.
Movies starring Esther Williams have generally received positive reviews and hold an average score of 60%.
Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer - released in 2002 - is Esther Williams's highest rated movie, with a score of 82% based on 17 reviews.
The lowest rated film from Esther Williams is Texas Carnival - released in 1951 - with a score of 43% based on 2 reviews.
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and MGM movie star.
Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, Williams 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. There, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic swimmer and Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller.
It was at the Aquacade that Williams caught the attention of MGM scouts. After appearing in several small roles, 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 synchronized swimming and diving. From 1945 to 1949, Williams had at least one film listed 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 would go on to become her nickname while at MGM.
Williams left MGM in 1956 and appeared in a handful of unsuccessful feature films, followed by several extremely popular water-themed television specials, including one from Cypress Gardens, Florida.
Following her retirement from film in the 1960s, Williams became a businesswoman, lending her name to a line of swimming pools and retro swimwear, instructional swimming videos for children, and serving as a commentator for synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Esther Williams has acted in films with Cyd Charisse, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.
Esther Williams has worked with these film directors: Richard Thorpe, George Sidney, Charles Walters and Edward Buzzell.
Popular Movies Right Now
