Annette Kellerman

I come from a nation of swimmers but no one remembers me now, yet I was once one of the most famous women in all the world. They called me the 'Diving Venus', the perfect woman, a daughter of the gods.

Annette Kellerman (6 July 1887 – 5 November 1975) was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, writer, and advocate for the change of women's swimwear. Annette became the first major actress to do a complete nude scene in a movie and was known as the Perfect Woman because of the similarity of her physical attributes to the Venus de Milo.

Sourced

• 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. 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 (1918), pp. 47–48

External links

• Annette Kellerman at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sports Factor
• The Evolution and Devolution of the Swimsuit
• Annette's story in her own words
• Australian Hall of Fame
• Million Dollar Mermaid back in the Spotlight