I took a job at the pool in order to earn the five cents a day it cost to swim. I counted wet towels. As a bonus, I was allowed to swim during lunchtime.

I was all in gold sequins for Million Dollar Mermaid, 50 feet in the air

I ended up buying a restaurant. Already we had invested in a gas station and a metal products plant.

I always felt that if I made a movie, it would be one movie; I didn't see how they could make 26 swimming movies.

I took my daily swim at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool despite the presence of onlookers

Three events. Three gold medals. I was news, big news, in the sports world.

Barely a teenager, Elizabeth Taylor was already more beautiful and voluptuous than Miss America. When she arrived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for our magazine shoot, I was bowled over. I couldn't believe she was only fourteen. She filled out a swimsuit better than I did. We did the pictures, including one shot of me teaching her to float. With that superstructure of hers, she floated just fine. What she couldn't do was sink.