
Annette Kellerman
swimming superstar
A championship swimmer, cliff diver, vaudeville performer and movie star, Australian Annette Kellerman was a superwoman of the Victorian era. But perhaps her biggest legacy is something that benefited us all ~ the one-piece swim suit. It wasn't easy to do the crawl stroke in pantaloons and a dress, so Annette designed a form-fitting alternative. Though considered risqué, it popularized the sport + lured women to the water.
Annette became an international celebrity ~ even earning a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also wrote books on health, fitness + beauty and continued to swim until shortly before her death at 89.
record-breaking swimmer | often competed against men
Kellerman suit | a one-piece suit that changed Victorian-era swim fashion forever
powering thru | wore heavy leg braces as a child and then overcame severe glass cuts when a water tank burst during a swimming performance
first nude scene | took off her clothes in Daughter of the Gods {1916} ~ first major actress to do so
first woman to attempt to swim the English Channel | stopped after 3 tries ~ "I have the endurance, but not the brute strength"
1907 | arrested for indecency on Revere Beach {near Boston, Massachusetts} for wearing her skin-tight, one-piece bathing suit
1914 | first major silent film, Neptune's Daughter, showcases her cliff diving and underwater swimming
1952 | MGM releases the film Million Dollar Mermaid based on her life, with Esther Williams in the starring role
from | to
crippled child | world-record-holding swimmer, entertainer, fashion designer, writer and health + fitness entrepreneur
born on
July 6, 1886
born in
Marrickville, Australia
~ a suburb of Sydney ~
birth name
Annette Marie Sarah Kellerman
nickname
Australian Mermaid
The Diving Venus
citizen of
Australia
daughter of
Alice Ellen (Charbonnet) Kellerman
~ pianist + music teacher ~
Frederick Kellerman
~ violinist ~
sister of
2 brothers | Maurice and Fred
1 sister | Marcelle
grew up in
Sydney + Melbourne
~ moved to Europe at 18 to earn money for family ~
educated at
Mentone Girls' Grammar School
during study breaks
did swimming and diving exhibitions at the Melbourne Baths, swam in a tank with fish and performed a mermaid act
married to
James "Jimmie" Sullivan
~ married to her manager for 63 years ~
mother of
no children
advocate for
healthy living | a life-long vegetarian, she opened a health food store in California
died on
November 5, 1975
~ remains scattered in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia ~
image credits
Bain News Service | Library of Congress | public domain
Wikimedia Commons | public domain
collapse bio bits"I don't want to be just a pretty fish."
Bathing Suit Shopping with the Original Mermaid Annette Kellerman | 1908
"I can't swim wearing more stuff than you hang on a clothesline."
Now and Then: Observer Sport Monthly | 1912
"Swimming for women is more than physical, it can engender self-confidence, and in the art and science of swimming, a kind of equality, even superiority to that of men."
The Girl Who Wants to Swim | june 1915
"There are two kinds of bathing suits, those that are adapted for use in the water, and those that are unfit for use except on dry land."
How to Swim | january 1918
"If you are going to swim, wear a water bathing suit. But if you are merely going to play on the beach and pose for your camera friends, you may safely wear the dry land variety."
How to Swim | january 1918
"My early physical misfortune has turned out to be the greatest blessing that could have come to me. Without it I should have missed the grim struggle upward and the reward that waited at the end of it all."
How to Swim | january 1918
"Swimming is a pleasure and a benefit, a clean, cool, beautiful cheap thing we all from cats to kings can enjoy."
How to Swim | january 1918
"Swimming cultivates imagination; the man with the most is he who can swim in his solitary course day or night and forget a black earth full of people that push."
How to Swim | january 1918
"The man who has not given himself completely to the sun and winds and cold sting of the waves will never know all the meanings of life."
How to Swim | 1918
for further reading about Annette Kellerman:
curated with care by Kathleen Murray {september 2014}
Annette Kellerman
Annette poses for a risque, au natural photo shoot ~ her daring ultimately helped usher in a greater cultural appreciation of the human body + physical fitness.
Bain News Service
June 17 - Modern - Annette Kellerman in "A Daughter of The Gods"
Ad in the Providence Journal Sunday Edition on June 17, 1917 for showings of Annette's movie, "A Daughter of the Gods" at 12:00 noon - 10:30 pm at the Modern Theatre. Tickets cost between 10 and 25 cents.
Micah Salkind
Annette Kellerman, the "original mermaid"
Annette swimming underwater in a gold sequined dress in the movie "The Original Mermaid."
NSFA Australia