Queen of the Aquatic World: Annette Kellerman

Annette Kellerman in a hand-tinted photograph. She appears to be naked but is covered by her long hair. She is sitting on a rock near a waterfall.
https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/08-2018/585888.jpg
Title:
Queen of the Aquatic World: Annette Kellerman
NFSA ID
585888
Year
1916
Access fees

A publicity still of Annette Kellerman from the lost film A Daughter of the Gods (Herbert Brenon, USA, 1916). Kellerman is credited with being the first woman to appear nude in a film.

When she spoke with Joel Greenberg in 1974 for her oral history she insisted she wore a ‘very thin pair of tights’.

As you can see in this photograph a long wig was also strategically placed for modesty.

Notes by Beth Taylor