Norma Shearer

Canadian movie actress

• Born: August 10, 1900
• Place of Birth: Montreal, Québec, Canada
• Died: June 12, 1983
• Place of Death: Los Angeles, California

Education: Westmount High School; Montreal High School for Girls

Significance: Norma Shearer won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930 for her role in The Divorcee.

Background

Norma Shearer was born on August 10, 1900 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her father, Andrew Shearer, was the proprietor of a construction company, and her mother, Edith Shearer, was a housewife. Shearer had an older brother, Douglas, and an older sister, Athole. Norma had a pleasant childhood and was encouraged by her parents to fill her days with skating, skiing, piano, and swimming. On the occasion of Norma’s ninth birthday, a party was thrown in her honor, and a vaudeville show starring Dolly Sisters was shown. After seeing the show, Norma was inspired to become an actress.

In 1981, Athole, who had been diagnosed with bipolar depression, succumbed to her first serious mental breakdown. Andrew’s construction company also suffered some setbacks as his own mental issues began to overwhelm him, and the family was thrown into poverty. Shortly after, Edith separated from Andrew. Due to the encouragement of her brother, Edith sold Norma’s piano and bought three train tickets to New York. Edith and her two daughters were furnished with nothing more than Norma’s letter of introduction to Florenz Ziegfeld, which a local theater owner had given them, and when the three women arrived in New York, they rented a shabby one-bedroom apartment in the burgeoning movie district for the sole purpose of making Norma a film star.

Life’s Work

Florenz Ziegfeld, the American Broadway impresario, rejected Shearer for his Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows. Despite the rejection, Shearer remained determined to succeed. She auditioned for roles in small films and eventually found work in 1920 as a bit player in The Flapper and The Restless Sex. Later that same year, she landed a small role in Way Down East, a film by writer, director, and producer D.W. Griffith. Shearer approached Griffith for career advice and was told that even if she was able to fix her eye and her teeth, she would never make it in the film industry and would never be a movie star. Still undeterred in her aspirations, she met with Dr. William Bates, a pioneer in the treatment of imperfectly aligned eyes and imperfect vision. Dr. Bates recommended treatment that consisted of a series of muscle strengthening exercises for her eyes. The cast in Shearer’s eyes was reduced after many hours of eye exercises.

Shearer attracted the attention of agent Edward Small, and due to his efforts, her acting career was officially launched in 1920 with her first feature role in The Stealers. Shearer continued to learn her craft and attended performances in many theaters on Broadway to study the work of stage actresses such as Ina Claire and Lynn Fontanne. After The Stealers, Shearer acted in two other films in 1921. She played a bit part in a Norma Talmadge film, from which she was eventually cut out entirely in the editing room. She also had a small role in the film Torchy’s Millions.After Torchy´s Millions,parts began to disappear, and because of the cost of her doctor’s fees, she found herself having to move back to Montreal for modeling work. While in Montreal, Shearer received news from agent Small that she had been offered a role in a film. Shearer and her mother made their way back to New York.

In 1923, American film producer Irving Thalberg became the vice president of Louis B. Mayer Pictures. This film studio, which was located in northeast Los Angeles, was run by the small-time producer, Louis B. Mayer. Thalberg’s first act as vice president was to send out a telegraph to Small, inviting Shearer to the studio. Thalberg had seen Shearer in her first feature role, and he was impressed. Shearer was offered a five-year film contract, which she accepted. In her screen tests, Shearer’s eyes appeared to be crossed, and she was denied the lead role in the film The Wanters because the director thought she was not photogenic. Shearer surprised Mayer with her acting in the film Pleasure Mad,and she was subsequently cast in six other films in eight months.

In 1924, after Louis B. Mayer Pictures merged with Metro Pictures and the Samuel Goldwyn Company to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), she was cast in the studio's first official production, He Who Gets Slapped. Shearer swiftly became one of MGM’s biggest box-office attractions. In 1925, she appeared in Lady of the NightandHis Secretary; a year later, in 1926, she appeared in The Devil's Circus." During the first four years of her contract, Shearer appeared in thirteen silent movies for MGM, all of which were box-office hits. In 1929, with the aid of her brother Douglas, who was a recording director at MGM, Shearer starred in MGM’s first talkie, The Trial of Mary Dugan. Beginning in 1929, Shearer appeared in many films, includingThe Last of Mrs. Cheyney and The Divorcee, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Shearer continued to make films until the death of Thalberg in 1936. When he died, she took an eighteen-month sabbatical but returned to make six more movies for MGM before retiring.

Shearer died of bronchial pneumonia at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, in 1983.

Impact

Shearer was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She and her brother Douglas were the first Academy Award–winning brother and sister. Shearer appeared in over fifty films during her lifetime. In 2023, the Hollywood Heritage Museum debuted the exhibit "The Unexpected Life & Legacy of Norma Shearer: The Queen of the MGM Lot." It marked the centennial of Norma Shearer signing her first film contract.

Personal Life

In 1927, after converting to Judaism, Shearer married Irving Thalberg. They had two children, a son named Irving Jr. and a daughter named Katherine. After Thalberg’s death, Shearer married Martin Arrougé in 1948.

Bibliography

Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Norma Shearer: American actress."Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Norma-Shearer>.

Jacobs, Jack, and Myron Braum. The Films of Norma Shearer. South Brunswick: Barnes, 1976. Print.

LaSalle, Mick. Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-code Hollywood. New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s, 2000. Print.

Lambert, Gavin. Norma Shearer: A Life. New York: Knopf, 1990. Print.

"Queen Norma—Shearer, That Is." Bright Lights Film Journal. Bright Lights Film Journal, 1 Apr. 1996. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://brightlightsfilm.com/queen-norma-shearer/>.

"Norma Shearer Returns to Hollywood." Beverly Press Park Labrea News, 20 Sept. 2023, beverlypress.com/2023/09/norma-shearer-returns-to-hollywood/. Accessed 29 Sept. 2024.

"Overview for Norma Shearer." TCM. Turner Classic Movies, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. <http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/175586|118297/Norma-Shearer/>.