Explore Quotes by Esther Williams

I was the only swimmer in movies. Tarzan was long gone, and he couldn't have done them anyway; he could never have gotten into my bathing suit

I took my daily swim at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool despite the presence of onlookers

I was all in gold sequins for Million Dollar Mermaid, 50 feet in the air

Barely a teenager, Elizabeth Taylor was already more beautiful and voluptuous than Miss America. When she arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for our magazine shoot, I was bowled over. I couldn't believe she was only fourteen. She filled out a swimsuit better than I did. We did the pictures, including one shot of me teaching her to float. With that superstructure of hers, she floated just fine. What she couldn't do was sink.

No one had ever done a swimming movie before so we just made it up as we went along. I ad-libbed all my own underwater movements.

It appeared as if I had invited the audience into the water with me, and it conveyed the sensation that being in there was absolutely delicious

Life magazine ran a page featuring me and three other girls that was clearly the precursor of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues

I remember when I first walked into Mayer's cavernous office. You had to walk 50 yards to get to him, and in that time he could really study everything about you.

I never walked the streets of New York hoping to be a musical comedy star. For one thing, they would have thought I was too tall, because l was five feet eight and a half, and they were all little bitty things running around in the studio at that time.

I always felt that if I made a movie, it would be one movie; I didn't see how they could make 26 swimming movies.

I always took it for granted that there would be life after Hollywood.

I ended up buying a restaurant. Already we had invested in a gas station and a metal products plant.

I gave my eardrums to MGM. And it's true: I really did.

Victor Mature was a big man; he had a great swagger. I liked him and I knew we'd be good together on screen.

Howard Hughes himself was a regular at the restaurant, and in a way it became his headquarters, too. Howard had recently relocated to Las Vegas, so when he wanted to do business in Los Angeles, he went into the back of our restaurant to use the telephone.

Traveling to swimming meets took me beyond my small-town existence, gave me a hint of the exciting world outside of my own home.

When you're out of sight for as long as I was, there's a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again.

The wisdom acquired with the passage of time is a useless gift unless you share it.

What the public expects and what is healthy for an individual are two very different things.