Norma Shearer
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
Mary Haines
The Women
Self / Juliet
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Consuelo
He Who Gets Slapped
Elizabeth Gordon
The Wolf Man
Claire Endicott
Empty Hands
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Irene Fellara
Idiot's Delight
Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Elizabeth Barrett
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Jess Driscoll
Channing of the Northwest
Norma Shearer (uncredited)
Married Flirts
Norman Shearer (uncredited)
A Man's Man
Jerry
The Divorcee
Jan Ashe
A Free Soul
Owner of Stolen Jewels
The Stolen Jools
Molly Helmer / Florence Banning
Lady of the Night
Kathleen / Moonyeen
Smilin' Through
Kathi
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg
Consuelo Croyden
Her Cardboard Lover
Lisbeth Corbin
Strangers May Kiss
Amanda Prynne
Private Lives
Lucia 'Lally' Marlett
Their Own Desire
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Mary Elizabeth Dugan
The Trial of Mary Dugan
Countess Ruby von Treck
Escape
Nina Leeds
Strange Interlude
Kitty Brown
Let Us Be Gay
Frances White
Pretty Ladies
Dolly Haven
Upstage
Dolly Morgan
A Lady of Chance
Nina Duane
The Waning Sex
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Mary
The Devil's Circus
Mary Miller
After Midnight
Lady Mary Rexford
Riptide
Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska
We Were Dancing
Mimi Winship
Lucretia Lombard
Fay Cheyney
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Marjorie Dare
A Clouded Name
Self (archive footage)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Glory/Goldie
The Tower of Lies
Self (archive footage)
Sports on the Silver Screen
Herself
The Christmas Party
Rose Dulane
Broadway After Dark
Self (archive footage)
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
Rose Trelawny
The Actress
Barn Dancer (uncredited)
Way Down East
Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage)
Going Hollywood
(archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Entertainment!
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Self
Wir schalten um auf Hollywood
Self
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
1925 Studio Tour
Reveler at Artists Ball (uncredited)
The Restless Sex
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
Self (archive footage)
The Romance of Celluloid
Mary Ellen Hope
Waking Up the Town
Ann Dolan
The Latest from Paris
Nancy Claxton
The Snob
Katherine Emerson
A Slave of Fashion
Self (archive footage)
Judy Garland: By Myself
Self
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
Hollywood Goes to Town
Self (archive footage)
Complicated Women
Self
From the Ends of the Earth
(archive footage)
Twenty Years After
Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Various Roles (archive footage)
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
(archive footage) (uncredited)
The Film Parade
Self (uncredited)
Another Romance of Celluloid
Juliet (uncredited)
Master Will Shakespeare
Ruth Lawrence
His Secretary
Lillian Denton
Blue Water
Big V Beauty Squad Member (uncredited)
The Star Boarder
(uncredited)
Torchy's Millions
Julie Martin
The Stealers
Jeanne Thornton
The Man Who Paid
Rose Del Mar
The Taming of the Shrewd
Helen Barnes
The Bootleggers
Dora Perkins
Man and Wife
Jeanne
The Devil's Partner
Elinor Benton
Pleasure Mad
Marjorie
The Wanters
Jerry Vardon
The Trail of the Law
Grace Durland
Broken Barriers
Marjorie Newton
Excuse Me
Mary Ellen Hope
The End of the World
Criquette
The Demi-Bride
Norma Shearer
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Schoolgirl (uncredited)
The Flapper
Mary Ellen Hope
The End of the World
Herself - Archive Footage (uncredited)
Anniversary
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
93
Gender
Female
Birthday
1902-08-10
Place of Birth
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Also Known As
Edith Norma Shearer