Image of Annette Kellerman

Annette Kellerman

Australian-born swimming champion and actress, she played a significant role in the popularization of swimming as a sport, especially for women. Also known as "The Million Dollar Mermaid". Born Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman in Sydney, Australia, on July 6, 1886; died in Southport, Queensland, Australia, on the 6th November 1975; married James R. Sullivan (her manager), in 1912. She suffered from a form of Poliomyelitis that had left her partially crippled as a child. She had to wear an iron brace up to her hips. Her father pushed her to swim as a therapeutic means of overcoming this condition. Her legs were normal by the time she was 13 as a result. She began swimming competions while still a teenager and won the New South Wales swimming championships in 1902. She went to England in 1904 with her father and she won a 26-mile race on the Thames. With her brother as manager, came to U.S. and made first public appearance (1907); made first film, a kind of documentary, as early as 1909, and her last just before the end of the silent era; a champion swimmer, recognized health authority, and exponent of physical culture, was the first woman swimmer to achieve acclaim; is said to have devised the idea of formation swimming as an art, is credited with having introduced the single-piece swimsuit (even arrested for indecent exposure for wearing it) and did much to facilitate the entry of women into the aquatic sports by gradually making acceptable the kind of minimal swimwear necessary to allow freedom of movement and speed in the water; retired to her native Australia (1935). Awards: Holder of the world record for the two-, five- and ten-minute swimming championships. She was also the first woman to appear fully nude in a movie; "A Daughter of the Gods" (1916).


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Born:
Jul 6, 1887 In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Movie/TV Credits:
11
First Appeared:
In the movie Jephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy 1909-05-22
Latest Project:
Movie Harvest 2011-02-16
Known For
Poster of The Original Mermaid
Poster of Siren of the Sea
Poster of The Bride of Lammermoor
Poster of Jephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy
Filmography
Movie Harvest 2011-02-16
Movie The Original Mermaid Herself (archive footage) 2002-02-20
Movie The Love Goddesses (archive footage) 1965-03-03
Movie Venus of the South Seas Shona Royale 1924-02-01
Movie Queen of the Sea Merrilla, Queen of the Sea 1918-09-01
Movie National Red Cross Pageant The Mediterranean - Italian episode 1917-12-01
Movie A Daughter of the Gods Anitia 1916-10-16
Movie Neptune's Daughter Annette, Neptune's daughter 1914-04-25
Movie Siren of the Sea Siren of the Sea 1911-01-01
Movie Jephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy Jephtah's Daughter 1909-05-22
Movie The Bride of Lammermoor Lucy Ashton 1909-06-17