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30-421: George Folsey received a 1953 Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, Color . The film stars Esther Williams , Victor Mature , and Walter Pidgeon , with David Brian and Donna Corcoran . In the late 19th century, a polio-stricken Australian girl, Annette Kellerman ( Esther Williams ), swims as a means to improve her health. Her father, Frederick ( Walter Pidgeon ), who owns a music conservatory, accepts

60-556: A Romance (1945), Fiesta (1947), This Time for Keeps (1947), Pagan Love Song (1950) and Easy to Love (1953). The film's individual DVD format was released on June 26, 2018 by Warner Archive Collection , who also released the Blu-ray on July 28, 2020. George Folsey (cinematographer) Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

90-487: A change of heart and makes Annette headliner of his New York show. After the death of her father, she travels to Montauk at the behest of Doc to try to dissuade Jimmy from flying in an air race with a $ 50,000 prize. It does not go well. As time passes, Harper falls in love with Annette while she travels to Hollywood to make a film. Jimmy and Doc turn up, this time promoting a dog called Rin Tin Tin that they hope to star in

120-500: A dozen scripts, all of which I rejected because they just wanted to make it a glamorous, typically Hollywood, romance story. I thought they were silly and undignified." Before filming, Kellerman says she wrote the outline of the script which MGM was going to use. "I insisted on the right to edit the script, because I didn't want Hollywood making a mess of my story. My life has been a beautiful one, and I didn't want them doing anything that would make it look cheap in any way." Louis Calhern

150-452: A new actress, perhaps an Australian girl, in the part. Don't think I'm complaining, though. She's a lovely girl, and I'm very fond of her. I just feel that she's such a 'name' that people will be a little inclined to associate the picture with her rather than me." Kellerman liked Hornblow. "He is the man who finds life and drama in simple things, and that really is what my story is. In the two years before we started work... I went through half

180-470: A paraplegic as you could without actually succeeding.” Million Dollar Mermaid not only became Esther Williams' nickname around Hollywood, but it became the title of her autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999), co-written with Digby Diehl. Williams has often called this her favorite film. The film opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on December 4, 1952. In its fourth week,

210-606: A prop boy and bit player with various touring and burlesque companies. He became a matinee idol after being in a play titled Cobra . Calhern's burgeoning career was interrupted by World War I ; he served in France in the 143rd Field Artillery of the U.S. Army . Due to the anti-German sentiment during World War I , he changed his German given name, Carl. His stage name is an amalgam of his hometown of St. Louis and his first and middle names, Carl and Henry (Calhern). Calhern began working in silent films for director Lois Weber in

240-400: A result, he lost several important screen and stage roles. According to former wife Natalie Schafer , Calhern's inability to overcome his addiction ended their marriage. While he was willing to consult doctors, she said Calhern refused to attend Alcoholics Anonymous because he was an atheist and considered AA to be a religious organization. Calhern ultimately overcame his alcohol addiction by

270-517: A teaching position in England. Aboard ship, Annette encounters the American promoter James Sullivan ( Victor Mature ) and his associate Doc Cronnol ( Jesse White ), who are taking a boxing kangaroo called Sydney with them to London. The teaching position falls through, and Jimmy suggests promoting Annette in a six-mile swim to Greenwich . She volunteers to make it 26 miles instead. Word spreads of

300-586: The title character in Joseph L. Mankiewicz all-star 1953 film adaptation of Julius Caesar. He won a Special Jury Prize at the 15th Venice International Film Festival for his performance in Executive Suite (1954). Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt in Brooklyn, New York, in 1895, the son of German immigrants Eugene Adolf Vogt and Hubertina Friese Vogt. He had one known sibling, a sister. His father

330-618: The Red Cross. However, no sequel was made. The VHS format was first released by MGM in 1989. On October 6, 2009, Turner Classic Movies , via Turner Entertainment , released Million Dollar Mermaid on DVD as part of the Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 2. The 6 disc set was a follow-up to the company's Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 1, and contains digitally remastered versions of several of Williams's films including Thrill of

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360-537: The classic Marx Brothers comedy Duck Soup (1933), as Major Dort in The Life of Emile Zola (1937), and as the spy boss of Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock 's Notorious (1946). In the late 1940s, Calhern joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a contract player, receiving wide acclaim for three diverse roles that he appeared in for the studio in 1950: a singing role as Buffalo Bill in the film version of

390-420: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 965898652 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 10:36:53 GMT Louis Calhern Carl Henry Vogt (February 19, 1895 – May 12, 1956), known by his stage name Louis Calhern , was an American actor. Described as a “star leading man of the theater and a star character actor of

420-531: The early 1920s, the most notable being The Blot (1921). A newspaper article commented: "The new arrival in stardom is Louis Calhern, who, until Miss Weber engaged him to enact the leading male role in What's Worth While? , had been playing leads in the Morosco Stock company of Los Angeles." In 1923, Calhern left the movies, deciding to devote his career entirely to the stage. He returned to films early in

450-444: The movies. A water tank bursts during the making of Annette's film, causing her serious injury, spinal hematoma . With her future in doubt, Harper steps aside when he sees for himself how much Annette and Jimmy are in love. In 1947, it was reported that Esther Williams wanted MGM to buy the rights to Annette Kellerman's life story as a vehicle for her. Virginia Mayo also expressed interest in playing Kellerman on screen. Kellerman

480-656: The musical Annie Get Your Gun ; as a double-crossing lawyer and sugar daddy to a young Marilyn Monroe in John Huston 's The Asphalt Jungle ; and his Oscar-nominated performance as Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Magnificent Yankee (re-creating his role from the Broadway stage). He was subsequently cast in the title role of Joseph L. Mankiewicz ’s 1953 all-star film version of Shakespeare ’s Julius Caesar , earning more praise. Calhern played

510-455: The part – she's much too pretty." Williams brought Kellerman to meet MGM studio executives and pitched the project to them. She says she did not hear anything back from the studio for a number of months until she read an article in the trade papers that the film was being made. In February 1951, it was announced MGM had signed a deal with Kellerman to make a film based on her life. It was originally called The One Piece Suit . Arthur Hornblow Jr.

540-476: The part. We [my husband and I] have been married 39 years, and are still just as thrilled with each other as ever we were. Our film is no love story with misunderstandings and scandals. It is just a good clean story; that's the way we've lived our lives." The part of Sullivan went to Victor Mature, who had recently had a big hit in Samson and Delilah . Kellerman later said she thought the film's depiction of Sullivan

570-579: The role of the devious George Caswell, the manipulative board member of Tredway Corporation, in the 1954 production of Executive Suite , followed by the role of a jaded, acerbic high school teacher in Blackboard Jungle (1955). His performance as cheerfully lecherous Uncle Willie in High Society (1956), a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story , was his final film appearance. Calhern battled alcoholism for much of his adult life; as

600-614: The scheming Ambassador Trentino in the classic Marx Brothers comedy Duck Soup (1933), the antagonist to Robert Donat 's Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), the head of the US Secret Service in Alfred Hitchcock 's Notorious (1946), the pivotal villain Alonzo Emmerich in John Huston ’s film noir The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Buffalo Bill in the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and

630-619: The screen,” he was appeared in over 100 roles on the Broadway stage and in films and television, between 1923 and 1956. He was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for portraying U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the 1950 film The Magnificent Yankee . Often cast in films as distinguished and sophisticated characters, Calhern's other notable film roles included

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660-607: The sound era where he was primarily cast as a character actor, while he continued to play leading roles on the stage. In 1945, Calhern won the Donaldson Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in The Magnificent Yankee . Among Calhern's notable screen portrayals were as the partner in crime to Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis in 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), as Ambassador Trentino in

690-490: The swim, and Annette's feat makes news. Jimmy suggests they can make a fortune by going to New York and appearing in a water ballet at the Hippodrome . Manager Alfred Harper ( David Brian ) does not offer them a job in the show, so Annette goes to Boston for a highly publicized swim and gets in hot water for wearing a one-piece suit too revealing for its time. She and Jimmy have a misunderstanding and part ways. Harper has

720-450: The wages of her years working underwater. When she dove, she knew that the headdress of her costume was too heavy and that she was in trouble. She heard her neck pop when she hit the water. When she reached the surface, she could kick her legs, but her upper body was paralyzed and she had to be helped out of the pool. An x-ray revealed she had broken three vertebrae . Williams writes, "I'd come as close to snapping my spinal cord and becoming

750-468: The week ended December 31, 1952, it set a record gross for a film in one theatre with a gross of $ 184,000. According to MGM records, the film earned $ 2,851,000 in the US and Canada and $ 2,096,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $ 243,000. After the film was released, it was reported Mervyn Le Roy met with Kellerman to discuss a sequel, that would cover Kellerman's career as a film star and her wartime work for

780-436: Was "the antithesis" of the character in real life (she called him a "quiet, unassuming" man who " never did anything cheap"). She said friends would tease the real Sullivan about Mature's casting, greeting him with "Here comes Samson." Esther Williams broke her neck upon impact while performing the film's signature high dive. She wrote in her memoir that she was already disoriented atop the platform after seven broken eardrums as

810-515: Was a tobacco dealer. His family left New York while he was in elementary school and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was raised. While playing high school football, a stage manager from a touring theatrical stock company noticed the tall, handsome youth and hired him as a bit player. Another source states " Grace George hired his entire high school football team as supers for a Shakespearean play." Just before World War I, Calhern returned to New York to pursue an acting career. He began as

840-498: Was assigned to produce. "Miss Kellerman is a charming woman", said Williams. "And still has very good health and figure. She was a famous stage personality and made several sensational movies for her time. I believe her life will provide a fine subject for me." "I can still hold my own with Esther from the neck down", Kellerman said. "From the neck up, I think she is much too glamorous for the role. I think, really, she's too beautiful. I'd rather have seen Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cast either

870-442: Was going to play Kellerman's father, but, eventually, the role went to Walter Pidgeon. Pidgeon's casting delighted Kellerman who said she "felt like kissing him" when she saw the first rushes of him on screen. Kellerman hoped that Glenn Ford would play her husband, Jimmy Sullivan. Kellerman said Ford was "the nearest thing I can think of to my dear husband-not too glamorous, and he implies the strength and understanding necessary for

900-463: Was unhappy that MGM had greatly changed her film Neptune's Daughter when they remade it as an Esther Williams vehicle. (She felt it should have been a fantasy like The Red Shoes .) "I cried so about it that at the time I never would have agreed to let them do my life story." However, Kellerman changed her mind when she met Williams and liked her. "I realised she really wanted to make my life story", said Kellerman. "I never would have thought of her for

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