Coming at the tail end of her silent film career, Venus of the South Seas (USA, 1924) was directed by Kellerman's husband and manager James (Jimmie) Sullivan.
In this newsreel excerpt, Annette Kellerman is training her troupe of performers in Sydney for a 'musical marine fantasy' hospital benefit – complete with piano accordion accompaniment.
Born Annette Marie Sarah Kellermann on 6 July 1886 in Sydney, Kellerman (her stage name) was diagnosed with rickets as a young child. Rickets is caused by vitamin D deficiency, resulting in the sof
‘After making examinations of ten thousand girls, Annette Kellerman is the closest to physical perfection of any’ declared Dr Dudley Sargent, director of the Harvard University Gymnasium in 1912.
