Annette Kellerman - record-breaking swimmer and the first film actress to appear nude

Annette Kellerman is an amazing woman with many accomplishments to her name. She was the first to attempt to swim across the English Channel on a par with men and won the right to wear a tight-fitting swimsuit instead of a bulky beach dress. She is considered the founder of modern synchronized swimming and diving. And these are just achievements in the field of sports! Kellerman also made a brilliant career in Hollywood and was the first in the history of American cinema to star in a film completely naked.

Annette Kellerman was born in 1886 in Australia, in New South Wales. And the Kellerman family was completely unsportsmanlike. Her father was a violinist and her mother was a pianist. The girl was born with weak legs. Because of this, she had to wear special structures that support her knee joints until she was 6 years old.

Annette could not run, because even walking was painful for her. Doctors recommended that the girl move more to strengthen her muscles, and the parents took their daughter to the pool. The 7-year-old girl immediately liked swimming, and soon she completely realized that swimming was her calling. Many years later, the already honored swimmer Kellerman recalled:

Thanks to sports, Annette fully recovered by the age of 13, and at 15 she already won her first competition. In 1902 her family moved to Melbourne. There, Kellerman also became interested in scuba diving. There she found her first job - a girl portrayed a mermaid at the Princess Court entertainment center. Annette had to dive to the bottom of a huge aquarium twice a day and splash around with the fish.

The girl was paid little money, but it was a serious financial help for her poor family. And then Kellerman was noticed by the directors of the Royal Melbourne Theater and offered her the first role in the play “Overcoming the Drought.” But sport was still Annette’s main occupation.

In 1903 she went with her father to England. The girl had an ambitious goal - to swim across the English Channel. No woman had ever tried to do this before. The preparation took a lot of time and Annette made her first attempt only on August 24, 1905. Unfortunately, it was not successful, like the next two. Kellerman was quite resilient, but she lacked physical strength.

Although the final swim across the Kellerman Strait was never possible, during one of the attempts the girl set a record. She swam three-quarters of the distance from England to France in just 10 hours. In preparation for the swim, Kellerman also swam 21 km along the Thames, which no woman had ever done before.

After unsuccessfully conquering the English Channel, the swimmer went to France, where she took part in a seven-mile swim along the Seine. Her competitors were 16 men, but Annette took third place. The Australian later set a women's record for diving underwater, holding her breath for 3 minutes 27 seconds.

Kellerman is the first person to perform a multi-rotation jump from a tower. Many people believe that Kellerman invented synchronized swimming. In her free time from competitions, she practiced “underwater ballet.” All this made the athlete incredibly popular. Annette was interviewed, and her photos graced the covers of women's and sports magazines.

Fame allowed Annette to begin social activities. She spoke out for the right of women to participate in competitions and appear on the beach in sports tights and tight-fitting swimsuits. At that time, swimsuits were not produced and the athlete sewed her first one herself.

Contrary to the laws in force at that time, the swimmer's legs were visible above the knees. For this, Kellerman was arrested by the police at a competition in Massachusetts in 1907. The athlete was accused of indecent behavior and faced a heavy fine or even a prison sentence. In court, Annette said that heavy clothing was dangerous to life, especially when diving. The judge had progressive views and acquitted the athlete.

At the age of 22, Kellerman unexpectedly announced the end of his sports career. She is interested in theater and begins touring theaters around the world, portraying a mermaid. At the beginning of her career, she was paid US$1,250 per week, which was a considerable sum in the early 20th century. Later, Annette's fees became even higher.

Annette Kellerman's popularity reached its highest point when she was recognized as the world's ideal of the female body. Professor Dudley A. Sargent of Harvard University took measurements and stated that the swimmer was as close as possible to the proportions of the Venus de Milo. After that, tickets to Annette’s performances were no longer available - thousands of people wanted to see the ideal of female beauty.

In addition to the theater, Kellerman also appeared on movie screens. By 1913, she had played several roles in silent short films based on swimming. And in 1914 she was invited to Hollywood, offering the main role in the film “Neptune’s Daughter.” In 1916, she appeared in another Hollywood film, “Daughter of the Gods.” Annette played a sea maiden and appeared completely naked in the frame. It was the most expensive film of those years - filming cost $1 million. Largely thanks to the beauty of Kellerman's body, the film not only paid off, but also brought in a good profit.

In total, Annette starred in 4 Hollywood films, and all of them were wildly commercial successes. Kellerman received fabulous fees and soon became a millionaire. She opened her own business - she launched her line of Annette Kellerman swimsuits. At the presentation, she stated that her products are a symbol of women's freedom.

Despite her considerable capital, Annette Kellerman participated in water shows until the 1940s. During World War II, she did charity work and even cared for polio patients and wounded soldiers. When the war ended, Kellerman became interested in traveling and gave motivational lectures during her visits to different cities. In her homeland, Australia, the woman opened sections for children and sports schools.

In her later years, Annette Kellerman wrote the book “Physical Beauty and How to Maintain It,” which became a bestseller. Annette and her husband ran a health food store in California that was very popular with customers. By the way, the woman’s husband was her former manager James Sullivan. Annette proposed to him herself. The couple lived in perfect harmony for many years, although they never managed to have children.

All her life, Annette Kellerman played sports, did not drink alcohol, and remained a vegetarian. She lived to be 86 years old and died on November 6, 1975 in a hospital in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. According to the woman's will, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered over the Great Barrier Reef.