Name
Norma Shearer
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1902-08-10
Deathday
1983-06-12 (81 years old)
Place of Birth
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Edith Norma Shearer (August 10, 1902 – June 12, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s. Her early films cast her as the girl next door, but for most of the Pre-Code film era, beginning with the 1930 film The Divorcee, for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress, she played sexually liberated women in sophisticated contemporary comedies. Later she appeared in historical and period films.
Unlike many of her MGM contemporaries, Shearer's fame declined steeply after retirement. By the time of her death in 1983, she was largely remembered at best for her "noble" roles in The Women, Marie Antoinette, and Romeo and Juliet. Shearer's legacy began to be re-evaluated in the 1990s with the publication of two biographies and the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and VHS release of her films, many of them unseen since the implementation of the Production Code some sixty years before. Focus shifted to her pre-Code "divorcee" persona, and Shearer was rediscovered as "the exemplar of sophisticated [1930's] woman-hood... exploring love and sex with an honesty that would be considered frank by modern standards".
Simultaneously, Shearer's ten-year collaboration with portrait photographer George Hurrell and her lasting contribution to fashion through the designs of Adrian were also recognized.
Shearer is widely celebrated by some as one of cinema's feminist pioneers: "the first American film actress to make it chic and acceptable to be single and not a virgin on screen". In March 2008, two of her most famous pre-code films, The Divorcee and A Free Soul, were released on DVD.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Norma Shearer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
7.1
Some of MGM's musical stars review the studio's history of musicals. From The Hollywood Re...
7.4
Various MGM stars from yesterday present their favorite musical moments from the studio's ...
6.207
Young love is poisoned by a generations long feud between two noble families....
5.8
The story of two baby girls, born near in proximity but worlds apart in society: Molly Hel...
7.548
After a baron steals his scientific discoveries, runs away with his wife, and slaps him in...
6.6
The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king o...
5.676
An all-star revue featuring MGM contract players....
6.2
Remarkable poet Elizabeth Barrett is slowly recovering from a crippling illness with the h...
7.2
A young prince falls in love with a beautiful barmaid while at university in old Heidelber...
- 1939 The Women as Mary Haines
- 1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 as Self / Juliet
- 1924 He Who Gets Slapped as Consuelo
- 1924 The Wolf Man as Elizabeth Gordon
- 1924 Empty Hands as Claire Endicott
- 1938 Marie Antoinette as Marie Antoinette
- 1939 Idiot's Delight as Irene Fellara
- 1936 Romeo and Juliet as Juliet
- 1934 The Barretts of Wimpole Street as Elizabeth Barrett
- 1922 Channing of the Northwest as Jess Driscoll
- 1924 Married Flirts as Norma Shearer (uncredited)
- 1929 A Man's Man as Norman Shearer (uncredited)
- 1930 The Divorcee as Jerry
- 1931 A Free Soul as Jan Ashe
- 1931 The Stolen Jools as Owner of Stolen Jewels
- 1925 Lady of the Night as Molly Helmer / Florence Banning
- 1932 Smilin' Through as Kathleen / Moonyeen
- 1928 The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg as Kathi
- 1942 Her Cardboard Lover as Consuelo Croyden
- 1931 Strangers May Kiss as Lisbeth Corbin
- 1931 Private Lives as Amanda Prynne
- 1929 Their Own Desire as Lucia 'Lally' Marlett
- 1972 Hollywood: The Dream Factory as Self (archive footage)
- 1929 The Trial of Mary Dugan as Mary Elizabeth Dugan
- 1940 Escape as Countess Ruby von Treck
- 1932 Strange Interlude as Nina Leeds
- 1930 Let Us Be Gay as Kitty Brown
- 1925 Pretty Ladies as Frances White
- 1926 Upstage as Dolly Haven
- 1928 A Lady of Chance as Dolly Morgan
- 1926 The Waning Sex as Nina Duane
- 1983 Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1926 The Devil's Circus as Mary
- 1927 After Midnight as Mary Miller
- 1934 Riptide as Lady Mary Rexford
- 1942 We Were Dancing as Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska
- 1923 Lucretia Lombard as Mimi Winship
- 1929 The Last of Mrs. Cheyney as Fay Cheyney
- 1923 A Clouded Name as Marjorie Dare
- 2004 Checking Out: Grand Hotel as Self (archive footage)
- 1925 The Tower of Lies as Glory/Goldie
- 1997 Sports on the Silver Screen as Self (archive footage)
- 1931 The Christmas Party as Herself
- 1924 Broadway After Dark as Rose Dulane
- 1990 You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story as Self (archive footage)
- 1928 The Actress as Rose Trelawny
- 1920 Way Down East as Barn Dancer (uncredited)
- 1933 Going Hollywood as Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage)
- 1974 That's Entertainment! as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1996 Joan Crawford: Always the Star as Self (archive footage)
- 1931 We’re Switching to Hollywood as Self
- 1940 A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound as Self
- 1925 1925 Studio Tour as Self
- 1920 The Restless Sex as Reveler at Artists Ball (uncredited)
- 1994 That's Entertainment! III as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1937 The Romance of Celluloid as Self (archive footage)
- 1925 Waking Up the Town as Mary Ellen Hope
- 1928 The Latest from Paris as Ann Dolan
- 1924 The Snob as Nancy Claxton
- 1925 A Slave of Fashion as Katherine Emerson
- 2004 Judy Garland: By Myself as Self (archive footage)
- 1940 Cavalcade of the Academy Awards as Self
- 1940 Hollywood: Style Center of the World as Self
- 1938 Hollywood Goes to Town as Self
- 2003 Complicated Women as Self (archive footage)
- 1939 From the Ends of the Earth as Self
- 1944 Twenty Years After as (archive footage)
- 1988 The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind as Self (archive footage)
- 2008 Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood as Various Roles (archive footage)
- 1933 The Film Parade as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1938 Another Romance of Celluloid as Self (uncredited)
- 1936 Master Will Shakespeare as Juliet (uncredited)
- 1925 His Secretary as Ruth Lawrence
- 1924 Blue Water as Lillian Denton
- 1919 The Star Boarder as Big V Beauty Squad Member (uncredited)
- 1920 Torchy's Millions as (uncredited)
- 1920 The Stealers as Julie Martin
- 1922 The Man Who Paid as Jeanne Thornton
- 1922 The Taming of the Shrewd as Rose Del Mar
- 1922 The Bootleggers as Helen Barnes
- 1923 Man and Wife as Dora Perkins
- 1923 The Devil's Partner as Jeanne
- 1923 Pleasure Mad as Elinor Benton
- 1923 The Wanters as Marjorie
- 1924 The Trail of the Law as Jerry Vardon
- 1924 Broken Barriers as Grace Durland
- 1925 Excuse Me as Marjorie Newton
- 1925 The End of the World as Mary Ellen Hope
- 1927 The Demi-Bride as Criquette
- 1939 Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8 as Norma Shearer
- 1920 The Flapper as Schoolgirl (uncredited)
- 1925 The End of the World as Mary Ellen Hope
- 1963 Anniversary as Herself - Archive Footage (uncredited)
- 1970 Brasileiros em Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
- 1932 The Movie Album as (archive footage)
- 2011 Vito as Self (archive footage)
- 1995 Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell as Self (archive footage)
- 2015 Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn as Self (archive footage)
- 1955 MGM Parade ( 1 episode )
- 2023 1939: Secrets of Hollywood's Golden Year ( 1 episode )
- 1980 Hollywood ( 1 episode ) as Self (archive footage, uncredited)
