Swim, film star Esther Williams, 91

LOS ANGELES - Esther Williams, 91, the swimming champion turned actress who starred in glittering and aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, died Thursday.

Ms. Williams died in her sleep, according to her longtime publicist, Harlan Boll.

Ms. Williams became one of Hollywood's biggest moneymakers, appearing in spectacular swimsuit numbers that capitalized on her wholesome beauty and perfect figure.

Such films as Easy to Wed, Neptune's Daughter, and Dangerous When Wet followed a formula: romance, music, a bit of comedy, and a flimsy plot that provided excuses to get Ms. Williams into the water.

 Ms. Williams' costars included the pick of the MGM contract list, including Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban, and Howard Keel.

She became a favorite pinup of GIs in World War II, and her popularity continued afterward. She was a refreshing presence among MGM's stellar gallery - warm, breezy, with a frankness and self-deprecating humor that delighted interviewers.

When hard times signaled the end of big studios and costly musicals in the mid-'50s, Ms. Williams tried nonswimming roles with little success. After her 1962 marriage to Fernando Lamas, her costar in Dangerous When Wet, she retired from public life.

Esther Jane Williams was born Aug. 8, 1921, in Inglewood, a suburb of Los Angeles, one of five children.

A public pool was not far from the modest home where Ms. Williams was raised, and it was there that an older sister taught her to swim.

When she was in her teens, the Los Angeles Athletic Club offered to train her four hours a day, aiming for the 1940 Olympic Games at Helsinki. In 1939, she won the Women's Outdoor Nationals title in the 100-meter freestyle, set a record in the 100-meter breaststroke, and was a part of several winning relay teams. But the outbreak of war in Europe that year canceled the 1940 Olympics, and Ms. Williams dropped out of competition to earn a living.

She was selling clothes in a Los Angeles department store when the showman Billy Rose tapped her for a bathing beauty job at the World's Fair in San Francisco. While there, she was spotted by an MGM producer and an agent.

Lamas, who died in 1982, was Ms. Williams' third husband. Before her fame, she was married briefly to a medical student. In 1945 she wed Ben Gage, a radio announcer, and they had three children, Benjamin, Kimball and Susan. They divorced in 1958.

"I've been a lucky lady," Ms. Williams said in a 1984 interview with the Associated Press. "I've had three exciting careers. Before films I had the experience of competitive swimming, with the incredible fun of winning. ... I had a movie career with all the glamour that goes with it. That was ego-fulfilling, but it was like the meringue on the pie. My marriage with Fernando - that was the filling, that was the apple in the pie."