Annette Marie Sarah Kellermann (6 July 1887 – 6 November 1975)
was an Australian professional swimmer,
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
star, film actress, and writer.
Kellermann was one of the first women to wear a
one-piece bathing costume, instead of the then-accepted
pantaloons
Pantaloon (from Italian Pantalone), is a traditional greedy merchant character in 16th-century Italian Commedia dell'arte.
Pantaloon or Pantaloons may also refer to:
Theatre
* Pantaloon, a character in the ''Harlequinade''
** Pantaloons, a style ...
, and inspired others to follow her example. Kellerman's swimming costumes became so popular that she started her own fashion line of one-piece bathing suits. Kellermann helped popularize the sport of
synchronised swimming, and authored a swimming manual. She appeared in several movies, usually with aquatic themes, and as the star of the 1916 film ''
A Daughter of the Gods'' was the first major actress to
appear nude in a Hollywood production. Kellermann was an advocate of health, fitness, and natural beauty throughout her life.
Early life
Annette Kellermann (frequently recorded as "Kellerman") was born in
Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia, on 6 July 1887,
to Australian-born violinist Frederick William Kellermann, and his French wife,
Alice Ellen Charbonnet, a pianist and music teacher.
At the age of six, a weakness in Kellermann's legs necessitated the wearing of steel braces to strengthen them. To further overcome her
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
, her parents enrolled her in swimming classes at Cavill's Baths, a tidal swimming pool in the North Sydney suburb of
Lavender Bay. By the age of 13, her legs were practically normal, and by 15, she had mastered all the swimming strokes and won her first race. At this time she was also giving
diving displays.
Swimming career
In 1902, Kellermann won the ladies' 100 yards and mile championships of
New South Wales
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
in the record times of 1 minute, 22 seconds and 33 minutes, 49 seconds respectively. In that same year, her parents decided to move to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
,
Victoria, and she was enrolled at
Mentone Girls' Grammar School, where her mother had accepted a music teaching position.
During her time at school, Kellermann gave exhibitions of swimming and diving at the main Melbourne baths, performed a mermaid act at Princes Court entertainment centre, and did two shows a day swimming with fish in a glass tank at the Exhibition Aquarium. In June and July 1903, she performed sensational high dives in the Coogee scene of Bland Holt's spectacular, ''
The Breaking of the Drought
''The Breaking of the Drought'' is a 1920 Australian silent film from director Franklyn Barrett based on the popular play by Bland Holt and Arthur Shirley. According to Graham Phillips, this film is one of the most damaged films in Australia's f ...
'', at the Melbourne Theatre Royal.
Kellermann and
Beatrice Kerr
Beatrice Maude Williams (née Kerr; 30 November 1887 – 3 August 1971), known professionally as Beatrice Kerr, was an Australian swimmer, diver, and aquatic performer. Born in Melbourne, Kerr learnt to swim at Albert Park Lake, and won medal ...
, who was billed as "Australia's Champion Lady Swimmer and Diver", were rivals, although Kerr's public challenges to Kellermann to meet in a competitive race went unanswered.
On 24 August 1905, aged 19, Kellermann was one of the first women to attempt to swim the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...
. After three unsuccessful swims she declared, "I had the endurance but not the brute strength." The first woman to attempt a Channel crossing had been Austrian Baroness
Walburga von Isacescu
Walpurga von Isacescu (''c.'' 1870 – after 1911), also seen as Walburga von Isacescu, was an Austrian swimmer, the first woman athlete to attempt a swim across the English Channel.
Swimming career
Walpurga von Isacescu attempted to swim across ...
, in September 1900. She had made a previous effort the month before alongside
Ted Heaton
Edmund Caunce Nowell 'Ted' Heaton (late 1872 – 19 September 1937) was a British Diving (sport), diver and swimming instructor born in Liverpool, England. He is notable for his small tank diving displays during the late 19th century and for hi ...
, but had to leave the water several miles out in the channel due to sea-sickness. Kellermann later challenged and defeated von Isacescu in a
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
race.
While in London a short was filmed of her performances and shown back in Australian venues. Kellermann helped popularize the sport of synchronised swimming after her 1907 performance of the first water ballet in a glass tank at the
New York Hippodrome
The Hippodrome Theatre, also called the New York Hippodrome, was a theater in New York City from 1905 to 1939, located on Sixth Avenue between West 43rd and West 44th Streets in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was called the wor ...
.
In 1911, she appeared on
Broadway in the title role of “Undine”, an
aquacade specialty conceived by composer
Manuel Klein and performed in repertory with the popular musical ''
Vera Violetta'' that featured
Al Jolson.
Swimwear line
Kellermann advocated for the right of women to wear a one-piece bathing suit, which was controversial at the time.
[Reader's Digest Services, "Record-breaking swimmers", ''Australia's Yesterdays: a Look at Our Recent Past'', 2nd edition, 1974 p. 193] According to an Australian magazine, "In the early 1900s, women were expected to wear cumbersome dress and pantaloon combinations when swimming. Although Kellermann later claimed to have been arrested at Revere Beach for public indecency while wearing one of her suits, there are no contemporary police records or news stories corroborating this, and she appears to have invented the incident.
The popularity of her one-piece suits resulted in her own line of women's swimwear. The "Annette Kellermans", as they were known, were the first step towards modern women's swimwear.
Film career
In 1916, Kellermann became the first major actress to perform in a nude scene when she appeared fully nude in ''
A Daughter of the Gods''. Made by
Fox Film Corporation, ''A Daughter of the Gods'' was the first million-dollar film production. Like many of Kellermann's other films, this is now considered a
lost film
A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress.
Conditions
During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...
, as no copies are known to exist.
The majority of Kellermann's films had themes of aquatic adventure. She performed her own stunts including diving from into the sea and into a pool of crocodiles. Many times she would play mermaids named Annette or variations of her own name. Her "fairy tale films", as she called them, started with ''The Mermaid'' (1911), in which she was the first actress to wear a swimmable mermaid costume on film, paving the way for future screen sirens such as
Glynis Johns (''
Miranda''),
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...
,
Ann Blyth
Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an American retired actress and singer. For her performance as Veda in the 1945 Michael Curtiz film ''Mildred Pierce'', Blyth was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is one of ...
(''
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid'') and
Daryl Hannah (''
Splash''). Kellermann designed her own mermaid swimming costumes and sometimes made them herself. Similar designs are still used by the
Weeki Wachee Springs
Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by " mermaids," women wearing fish tails as well as other fanciful outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spri ...
Mermaids, including her aquatic fairy costume first introduced in ''
Queen of the Sea'' (1918, another lost film).
Kellermann appeared in one of the last films made in
Prizma Color, ''
Venus of the South Seas'' (1924), a US/New Zealand co-production where one reel of the 55-minute film was in colour and underwater. ''Venus of the South Seas'' was restored by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
in 2004 and is the only feature film starring Kellermann known to exist in its complete form.
Publications
In addition to her film and stage career, Kellermann wrote several books including ''How to Swim'' (1918), ''Physical Beauty: How to Keep It'' (1919), a book of children's stories titled ''Fairy Tales of the South Seas'' (1926), and ''My Story'', an unpublished autobiography. She also wrote numerous mail order booklets on health, beauty, and fitness called The Body Beautiful.
Personal life
Kellermann married her American-born manager, James Sullivan, on or around 26 November 1912 at
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat Cit ...
.
A life-long vegetarian, Kellermann owned a
health food store
A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells health foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selection of ...
in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
, later in life. She remained active well into old age, continuing to swim and exercise until a short time before her death. She and her husband returned to live in Australia in 1970, and in 1974, she was honoured by the International Swimming Hall of Fame at
Fort Lauderdale
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facer ...
, Florida.
Kellermann outlived her husband and died in the hospital at
Southport, Queensland
Southport is a coastal suburb in the City of Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. In the , Southport had a population of 31,908 people. It contains the Gold Coast central business district.
Geography
Southport is bounded to the south-east ...
, Australia, on 6 November 1975, aged 88. She was cremated with
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
rites. Her remains were scattered in the
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, A ...
. She had no children.
Legacy
In 1908, after a study of 3,000 women,
Dudley A. Sargent of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
dubbed her the "Perfect Woman" because of the similarity of her physical attributes to the
Venus de Milo. During her Fox film series, she was often billed as ‘Australia’s Perfect Woman.’
Kellermann's large collection of costumes and theatrical memorabilia was bequeathed to the
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
.
Today, many of her original costumes and personal items are held by the
Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.
The
Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales has her archive of personal papers.
She was portrayed by
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...
in the film ''
Million Dollar Mermaid'' (1952), and Kellermann's name is on a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
, on
Hollywood Boulevard. An award-winning Australian documentary called ''The Original Mermaid'', which was about Kellermann, was produced in 2002.
A swimming complex in Marrickville which opened December 2010 was named after her.
The streets in the suburb of
Holt
Holt or holte may refer to:
Natural world
*Holt (den), an otter den
* Holt, an area of woodland
Places Australia
* Holt, Australian Capital Territory
* Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...
in the Australian capital
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
are all named after Australian sportspeople, and Kellermann Close was named for her.
In 2016,
X Swimwear, a made-to-measure swimwear line, launched a custom swimsuit called "The Kellerman" after her.
The American thoroughbred mare Annette K. (foaled in 1921 out of the mare Bathing Girl) was named after her. Annette K. became the grandam of U.S. Triple Crown winner
War Admiral.
Filmography
* ''
The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland'' (1909, Short)
* ''
Jephtah's Daughter: A Biblical Tragedy'' (1909, Short) - Jepthah's Daughter
* ''The Gift of Youth'' (1909, Short)
* ''Entombed Alive'' (1909, Short)
* ''The Mermaid'' (1911, Short) - Mermaid
* ''Siren of the Sea'' (1911, Short) - Siren of the Sea
* ''
Neptune's Daughter'' (1914) - Annette, Neptune's daughter
* ''
A Daughter of the Gods'' (1916) - Anitia - Daughter of the Gods
* ''
National Red Cross Pageant'' (1917) - The Mediterranean - Italian episode
* ''
Queen of the Sea'' (1918) - Merrilla, Queen of the Sea
* ''
What Women Love
''What Women Love'' is a lost 1920 American silent comedy drama film directed by Nate Watt and starring Annette Kellerman.
Cast
*Annette Kellerman as Annabel Cotton
* Ralph Lewis as James King Cotton
*Wheeler Oakman as Willy St. John
* Willia ...
'' (1920) - Annabel Cotton
* ''
Venus of the South Seas'' (1924) - Shona Royale (final film role)
As herself
* ''Miss Kellerman's Diving Feats'' (1907, Documentary short)
* ''Miss Annette Kellerman'' (1909, Documentary short)
* ''The Perfectly Formed Woman'' (1910, Short)
* ''The Universal Boy'' (1914)
* ''The Art of Diving'' (1920, Documentary short)
* ''Annette Kellermann Performing Water Ballet'' (1925, Documentary short)
* ''Annette Kellermann Returns to Australia'' (1933, Documentary short)
* ''Water Ballet: Sydney'' (1940, Short)
* ''Water Ballet'' (1941, Short)
Archival footage
* ''The Love Goddesses'' (1965)
* ''The Original Mermaid'' (2002)
Works
* ''How to Swim''
* ''Physical Beauty, How to Keep It''
''Physical Beauty, How to Keep It''
Kellermann, Annette; Library of Congress; New York : George H. Doran Company, 918 LCCN: 08012247; LC: RA778 .K38; ©1918; Accessed 29-01-2021
See also
* List of members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and ...
References
External links
*
*
*
"Annette Kellermann"
at Women Film Pioneers Project
''Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
v. Walker'' (Postmaster General)
Annette Kellermann Online Exhibition
at National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellermann, Annette
1887 births
1975 deaths
19th-century Australian women
20th-century Australian actresses
Australian female swimmers
Australian Roman Catholics
Australian people of French descent
Australian silent film actresses
Australian synchronised swimmers
People associated with physical culture
People from Marrickville
People from Queensland
Vaudeville performers
Women film pioneers
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
People educated at Mentone Girls' Grammar School