Norma Shearer
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1902-08-10
Day of Death
1983-06-12 (80 years old)
Place of Birth
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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
Acting
(2019)
Hollywood, The Dream Life of Lana Turner
as Self (archive footage)
(2008)
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
as Various Roles (archive footage)
(2007)
Girl 27
as Self (archive footage)
(2004)
Judy Garland: By Myself
as Self (archive footage)
(2004)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
as Self (archive footage)
(2003)
Complicated Women
as Self (archive footage)
(2002)
The Kid Stays in the Picture
as Self (archive footage)
(1997)
Sports on the Silver Screen
as Self (archive footage)
(1996)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
as Self (archive footage)
(1994)
That's Entertainment! III
as (archive footage)
(1990)
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
as Self (archive footage)
(1988)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
as Self (archive footage)
(1983)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1974)
That's Entertainment!
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1972)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
as Self (archive footage)
(1944)
Twenty Years After
as (archive footage)
(1942)
We Were Dancing
as Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska
(1942)
Her Cardboard Lover
as Consuelo Croyden
(1940)
Escape
as Countess Ruby von Treck
(1940)
(1940)
(1940)
(1939)
The Women
as Mary Haines
(1939)
Idiot's Delight
as Irene Fellara
(1939)
From the Ends of the Earth
as Self
(1939)
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
as Norma Shearer
(1938)
Marie Antoinette
as Marie Antoinette
(1938)
Another Romance of Celluloid
as Self (uncredited)
(1938)
Hollywood Goes to Town
as Self
(1937)
The Romance of Celluloid
as Self (archive footage)
(1936)
Romeo and Juliet
as Juliet
(1936)
Master Will Shakespeare
as Juliet (uncredited)
(1934)
Riptide
as Lady Mary Rexford
(1934)
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
as Elizabeth Barrett
(1933)
Going Hollywood
as Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage)
(1933)
The Film Parade
as (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1932)
Smilin' Through
as Kathleen / Moonyeen
(1932)
Strange Interlude
as Nina Leeds
(1931)
The Stolen Jools
as Owner of Stolen Jewels
(1931)
A Free Soul
as Jan Ashe
(1931)
The Christmas Party
as Herself
(1931)
Private Lives
as Amanda Prynne
(1931)
Strangers May Kiss
as Lisbeth Corbin
(1931)
We're switching to Hollywood
as Self
(1930)
The Divorcee
as Jerry
(1930)
Let Us Be Gay
as Kitty Brown
(1929)
Their Own Desire
as Lucia 'Lally' Marlett
(1929)
The Trial of Mary Dugan
as Mary Elizabeth Dugan
(1929)
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
as Self / Juliet
(1929)
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
as Fay Cheyney
(1929)
A Man's Man
as Norman Shearer (uncredited)
(1928)
The Actress
as Rose Trelawny
(1928)
A Lady of Chance
as Dolly Morgan
(1928)
(1928)
The Latest from Paris
as Ann Dolan
(1927)
After Midnight
as Mary Miller
(1927)
The Demi-Bride
as Criquette
(1926)
Upstage
as Dolly Haven
(1926)
The Devil's Circus
as Mary
(1926)
The Waning Sex
as Nina Duane
(1925)
Lady of the Night
as Molly Helmer / Florence Banning
(1925)
1925 Studio Tour
as Self
(1925)
Pretty Ladies
as Frances White
(1925)
The Tower of Lies
as Glory/Goldie
(1925)
His Secretary
as Ruth Lawrence
(1925)
Excuse Me
as Marjorie Newton
(1925)
Waking Up the Town
as Mary Ellen Hope
(1925)
A Slave of Fashion
as Katherine Emerson
(1925)
The End of the World
as Mary Ellen Hope
(1925)
The End of the World
as Mary Ellen Hope
(1924)
He Who Gets Slapped
as Consuelo
(1924)
Broken Barriers
as Grace Durland
(1924)
Empty Hands
as Claire Endicott
(1924)
The Wolf Man
as Elizabeth Gordon
(1924)
The Snob
as Nancy Claxton
(1924)
Married Flirts
as Norma Shearer (uncredited)
(1924)
The Trail of the Law
as Jerry Vardon
(1924)
Broadway After Dark
as Rose Dulane
(1924)
Blue Water
as Lillian Denton
(1923)
Lucretia Lombard
as Mimi Winship
(1923)
The Wanters
as Marjorie
(1923)
A Clouded Name
as Marjorie Dare
(1923)
Man and Wife
as Dora Perkins
(1923)
Pleasure Mad
as Elinor Benton
(1923)
The Devil's Partner
as Jeanne
(1922)
The Bootleggers
as Helen Barnes
(1922)
The Man Who Paid
as Jeanne Thornton
(1922)
The Taming of the Shrewd
as Rose Del Mar
(1922)
Channing of the Northwest
as Jess Driscoll
(1920)
Way Down East
as Barn Dancer (uncredited)
(1920)
The Flapper
as Schoolgirl (uncredited)
(1920)
The Restless Sex
as Reveler at Artists Ball (uncredited)
(1920)
The Stealers
as Julie Martin
(1920)
Torchy's Millions
as (uncredited)
(1919)
The Star Boarder
as Big V Beauty Squad Member (uncredited)