Esther Williams, a championship swimmer and lustrous beauty who became one of the world's most popular movie stars in the 1940s and '50s by appearing in aquatic musicals featuring daredevil plunges from pedestals, trapezes and even a helicopter, died Thursday at her home in Beverly Hills, California. She was 91.
A California-born model who held a national record for the 100-meter freestyle, Williams was 19 when she was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941. She was the studio's response to Sonja Henie, an Olympic gold medalist in figure skating who became a box-office powerhouse at rival 20th Century Fox.
"Melt the ice, get a swimmer, make it pretty," studio chief Louis B. Mayer commanded. The result was Williams.