Norma Shearer
Acting
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.
Born: August 10, 1902
Place of Birth: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Known For
Filmography
as Various Roles (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Self (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as Consuelo Croyden
as Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska
as Countess Ruby von Treck
as Mary Haines
as Norma Shearer
as Irene Fellara
as Marie Antoinette
as Self
as Self (uncredited)
as Self (archive footage)
as Juliet
as Juliet (uncredited)
as Elizabeth Barrett
as Lady Mary Rexford
as Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage)
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Nina Leeds
as Kathleen / Moonyeen
as Herself
as Amanda Prynne
as Self
as Jan Ashe
as Owner of Stolen Jewels
as Lisbeth Corbin
as Kitty Brown
as Jerry
as Lucia 'Lally' Marlett
as Self / Juliet
as Fay Cheyney
as Mary Elizabeth Dugan
as Norman Shearer (uncredited)
as Dolly Morgan
as Rose Trelawny
as Ann Dolan
as Mary Miller
as Criquette
as Dolly Haven
as Nina Duane
as Mary
as Ruth Lawrence
as Glory/Goldie
as Frances White
as Katherine Emerson
as Self
as Mary Ellen Hope
as Mary Ellen Hope
as Molly Helmer / Florence Banning
as Marjorie Newton
as Consuelo
as Nancy Claxton
as Norma Shearer (uncredited)
as Grace Durland
as Claire Endicott
as Rose Dulane
as Lillian Denton
as Elizabeth Gordon
as Jerry Vardon
as Mimi Winship
as Marjorie
as Elinor Benton
as Jeanne
as Dora Perkins
as Marjorie Dare
as Jess Driscoll
as Rose Del Mar
as Helen Barnes
as Jeanne Thornton
as Reveler at Artists Ball (uncredited)
as (uncredited)
as Julie Martin
as Barn Dancer (uncredited)
as Schoolgirl (uncredited)
as Big V Beauty Squad Member (uncredited)