Esther Williams

MGM scouts spotted her at the Aquacade. After small roles and appearances with Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film and with Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams starred in a series of "aquamusicals" in the 1940s and early 1950s, featuring elaborate synchronized swimming and diving performances. From 1945 to 1949, she had at least one film among the twenty highest-grossing films each year. In 1952, she played Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid, a role that became her nickname at MGM. She left MGM in 1956, appeared in a few unsuccessful films, then hosted popular water-themed TV specials, including one from Cypress Gardens, Florida.

Williams was also a businesswoman, investing in a service station, a metal products plant, a bathing suit manufacturer, properties, and the Trails restaurant chain. She lent her name to swimming pools, retro swimwear, and instructional swimming videos for children. Later, she served as a commentator for synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She married four times: to Leonard Kovner (1940-1944), Ben Gage (1945-1959, with whom she had three children), Fernando Lamas (1969-1982, until his death), and Edward Bell (1994 until her death). Her autobiography detailed struggles with Gage's alcoholism and Lamas's dominance. She died on Thursday, June 6, 2013, at age 91.