Sad news from Hollywood: the Million Dollar Mermaid has returned to Fabulon. At 91, Esther Williams had a long and what seems to have been a very interesting life. While there is more than a little truth in the old crack that "wet she's a star, dry she ain't," there's no denying her success - you don't score more than a decade as a top MGM star without a solid helping of That Little Something Extra.
Her gossipy memoir - titled, inevitably, Million Dollar Mermaid - may not be entirely reliable as to dates and details, but it's a good read, conveying a great deal of the charm that helped make her a star, along with a solid helping of the steel will and self-absorption that likely helped keep her one (not to mention keep her sane during her long marriage to trying Latin idol Fernando Lamas). No one will ever confuse her with Duse, but, well...wet, she'll always be a star.
She certainly had "that little something extra"! RIP Princess Mermaid. Jx
ReplyDeleteShe certainly made a splash.
ReplyDeleteas a kid, i recall the back of the sunday herald-traveler's TV pamphlet/flyer/whatever it was. the ESTHER WILLIAM'S POOLS ad seemingly had the lifetime spot and i would ponder this and her every week.
ReplyDeleteMy mother's favorite movie star as a kid...so she used to
ReplyDeletetell me.
rip
And in an 'only in Hollywood' confession, I used to attend new thought church services with her and Jo Ann Worley about a dozen years ago.
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