Eleanor Holm

From Wikipedia Born in Brooklyn New York the daughter of a fireman2 Holm learned to swim while very young Winning her first national swimming title at age 13 she was selected to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics where she finished fifth in her specialty the 100meter backstroke34 She was talented in several other strokes as well winning several American titles in the 300yard medley event At the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Holm won her favorite event though defending champion Marie Braun had to forfeit the final due to an insect bite5 I was hardly dry at those Olympics when I was whisked from one studio to anotherWarner Brothers MGM Paramountto take screen tests she told the New York Times in 1984 In 1932 she was one of 14 girls named as a WAMPAS Baby Star including Ginger Rogers Mary Carlisle and Gloria Stuart Competing as Eleanor Holm Jarrett she was selected for the 1936 Summer Olympics After a drinking party aboard the ship transporting the team Holm was found according to the team doctor in a state approaching a coma According to David Wallechinsky in The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics the Olympic team doctor reported that she was suffering from acute alcoholism but Holm denied it Team leader Avery Brundage promptly suspended her from the Olympic team Holm admitting to having had a few drinks subsequently maintained that her suspension arose from a personal grudge held by Brundage Although she appeared in at least four films as herself Holm appeared in only one Hollywood feature film starring opposite fellow Olympian Glenn Morris in the 1938 film Tarzans Revenge In 1939 a year after Jarrett divorced her claiming that his wifes suspension from the 1936 Olympics and her affair with another man had caused him embarrassment she married her lover impresario Billy Rose who had divorced first wife Fanny Brice At the 1939 New York Worlds Fair she did 39 shows a week at Roses Aquacade cofeatured with Tarzan swimmer Johnny Weissmuller and later Buster Crabbe In 1954 she divorced Rosereceiving 30000 a month worth 264349 today in alimony and a lump sum of 200000 worth 1762330 today to be paid in 10 yearly installments according to the New York Times This sensational divorce trial was called THE WAR OF THE ROSES and is the subject of a chapter in Louis Nizers book My Life in Court Several months later she married Thomas Whalen an oildrilling executivecitation needed In 1966 Holm was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame7 She died of renal disease in Miami Florida on January 31 2004 at the age of 908