The Million Dollar Mermaid

An Autobiography

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by Esther Williams and Digby Diehl

Type

Autobiographies

Subject

Actor > Esther Williams

Keywords

Esther Williams, actress, autobiography

Publishing date

1999

Publisher

Simon & Schuster

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 416 pages
6 ½ x 9 ¾ inches (16.5 x 25 cm)

ISBN-10
ISBN-13

0-684-85284-5
978-0-684-85284-3

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Book Presentation:
Not since David Niven wrote the bestselling The Moon's a Balloon and its sequel Bring on the Empty Horses has one of Hollywood's great stars written with such genuine wit and candor about

* what it was like to work in the movie factories where actors were pampered and coddled, yet expected to work without complaint for long, hard hours

* what it was like to be young and sexy and to be turned into an object of desire for millions of moviegoers

* what it was like to live in a world of almost total unreality, yet be expected to go about the business of finding a mate and raising a family, and avoiding personal scandal at all costs.

Now, for the hundreds of thousands of people who read and loved both of Niven's books, comes Esther Williams's wonderfully witty, fresh, and frank autobiography, all about an eighteen-year-old girl who reluctantly answers the siren call of MGM -- at the time, the most powerful and prestigious movie studio in the world -- and who soon finds herself launched on a career that will last more than twenty years, during which time she will help to create a genre of film that seems almost unimaginable today, yet which still holds all its original freshness and fascination, and who becomes during those years one of the world's top box office stars.

Williams calls MGM her "university," and the education she got there was one in how to project glamour and femininity, how to make yourself desirable while always, always playing the lady. No one who were through that university has ever written before with such absolute candor about what it was really like -- the affairs, the gossip, the tricks of the trade, the competition, the deals, the fights, and the methods the studios had for keeping their stars in line.

With a sharp mind and a rapier wit, Esther Williams brings to life those times and those bigger-than-life people, telling her stories with respect, yet with clear-eyed candor. Filled with behind-the-scenes gossip and tales of real life in a fantasy world, The Million Dollar Mermaid is the book legions of film fans have been waiting for.

About the authors:
Esther Williams retired from the screen since the 1960s, has continued to live in California where she runs a business that sells and promotes her own line of bathing suits, and licenses her name to swimming pools and swimwear. In addition, she was recently involved in the inauguration of synchronized swimming as a competitive event at the Olympics. She is married and lives in Beverly Hills.

Press Reviews:
...[an] interesting and engaging account of her life, and of the Hollywood she knew. -- The New York Times Book Review, Robert Gottlieb

See the publisher website: Simon & Schuster