Thumbnail Bio: Norma Shearer
Born: 1904 Montreal
Died: 1983
Norma Shearer is best remembered as Irving Thalberg’s wife & the “queen of the lot” at MGM from the late ‘20’s through most of the ‘30’s. While it can surely be said that she benefited from her place at Thalberg’s side, she was a hardworking and determined actress well before she met him. In fact, she was able to ignore both D.W. Griffith’s & Flo Zigfled’s advice that she wasn’t suitable to be a movie actress; her eyes too flat & her legs too fat they said. Determined as she was, Thalberg noticed her in several small parts and offered her a contract while he was head of production at Universal. When he wouldn’t pay for Norma’s mother to accompany her to Los Angeles, however, the deal fell through. Later, when Thalberg had moved to Louis B. Mayer Productions as head of production, he again offered Norma a contract and this time she accepted.
Arriving the first day at the studio, she confused the boyish Thalberg with an office boy, bragging that she had the pick of studios, choosing Mayer over other offers. When the “office boy” took his seat behind the big desk, however, she realized her mistake and Thalberg admitted it was he who had offered her the contact at Universal. After several loan outs to Fox, Paramount & First National (Warner Bros.), Norma’s first big break came in Lon Chaney’s He Who Gets Slapped in 1924. When Mayer Productions merged with Loew’s controlled Metro films & Goldwyn Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Thalberg set out to create Norma as a sophisticated lady in several romances & comedies, including Lady of the Night, His Secretary & A Lady of Chance, her last silent picture.
Norma admitted to friends that one day she would be Mrs. Irving Thalberg, but the production head was slow to the table, content to romance Universal head Carl Laemmle’s daughter Rosabelle & actress Constance Talmadge. Irving’s overprotective mother preferred Norma to the other two and eventually Thalberg proposed and they were married in 1927. Her status at MGM now secure, her position as it’s leading lady was clear by 1929, when she starred in the studios first all talking drama, The Trial of Mary Dugan. While many silent stars had trouble making the transition to sound pictures, Shearer’s voice was deemed to be tone perfect.
1930 was a watershed year for Shearer. The Divorcee was released in April and ended up the #4 highest grossing film of the year, as well as being named one of the top 10 films of the year by Film Daily. Shearer also won her only Academy Award for The Divorcee, as well as being nominated for Their Own Desire, which had been released in December of 1929. She was now thought of as one of the great actresses of her time, in fact she was nominated for 4 more Academy Awards during the 1930’s.
Her carefully crafted image was also changing. With The Divorcee, A Free Soul (’31) & Private Lives (’31), Shearer was playing more bold, independent and certainly more sexual characters that each helped expand the definition of a modern woman, married or single. These roles didn’t come without a fight for Shearer, however, because her husband was reluctant to first cast her in The Divorcee. He thought she wasn’t sexy enough to pull off the free willed Jerry, who threatens her husband with the classic line “Your door may be the only one that’s closed to me from now on!” Only after a trip to a young photographer’s studio for a series of racy shots in provocative poses and slinky lingerie changed Thalberg’s mind. The fact that the photographer was George Hurrell, who went on to become the most famous photographer of the studio era, was in large part due to Norma’s need to go offsite from the MGM lot for fear Thalberg would find out and kill the shoot. (Hurrell was quickly hired by MGM and made his name capturing stars & starlets in Hollywood for the next 13 years). Her husband convinced, Shearer began a run of pre-code films that captured modernity and a more casual view of sex, marriage and fidelity. Costumed by Adrian in elegant sheath dresses and the flimsiest lingerie, Shearer took on roles that perhaps more reflected her true personality, than the costume dramas that Thalberg preferred for her later in the decade.
While on screen Shearer was sporting a wilder image, at home she was playing the part of the loyal wife, hosting parties and having babies. In 1930, Irving Jr was born and in 1935 Katherine was born. In both cases she took as little time off as possible before going back on screen. During both pregnancies she had to be hidden behind plants and furniture to hide the baby bump that would have undermined her carefree characters! Party hosting at the Thalberg’s ocean front home was also a regular occurrence, so much so that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story Crazy Sunday is a thinly masked retelling of one particular party where he embarrassed himself, only to be rescued by Shearer.
Thalberg’s health was an ongoing issue, the result of a congenitally weak heart. In 1933, for instance, a heart attack led to a prolonged European retreat for Thalberg & Shearer, which kept Shearer off screen the entire year. Before Thalberg died in 1936 Shearer had completed only 2 films since 1933, Riptide (’34) & The Barretts of Wimpole Street (’34), receiving an Academy Award nomination for the later. His death further limited her production, as she first went through a long mourning period, and then was unable to find more suitable roles that she liked. She did star in Romeo & Juliet (’36), which Thalberg had been preparing at the time of his death, & Marie Antoinette (’38), both of which brought Academy Award nominations, but she fought with MGM and was largely passed over for roles as the decade wound down. Without Thalberg’s guiding hand, it seemed, she had trouble choosing quality roles, later passing on both Mrs. Miniver (’42) & Now, Voyager (’42) to star in the forgettable Her Cardboard Lover (’42) & We Were Dancing (’42).
George Cukor’s The Women (’39) was the lone exception of a film that Thalberg had no part in developing or producing for her in the 1930’s that was a success. Her angelic Mary was the picture of domesticity and it to this day colors what most filmgoers think about Norma Shearer. The film is fantastic and she is wonderful in it, but to paint the story of Norma Shearer from it is to miss her most engaging work from early in the decade.
Facts, Rumors & Notes:
*Shearer, then 36 and recently widowed had a brief affair with the 16 year old Mickey Rooney. When discovered by Louis B. Mayer it was quickly squelched.
*Shearer was also briefly attached to both Jimmy Stewart & George Raft after Thalberg’s death.
*in 1942 Shearer retired from the movies and married Martin Arrouge, a ski instructor. She remained largely out of the public while married until her death in 1983.
*Shearer is credited with discovering Robert Evans poolside in 1956. He was cast in Man of a Thousand Faces to play Irving Thalberg.
Born: 1904 Montreal
Died: 1983
Norma Shearer is best remembered as Irving Thalberg’s wife & the “queen of the lot” at MGM from the late ‘20’s through most of the ‘30’s. While it can surely be said that she benefited from her place at Thalberg’s side, she was a hardworking and determined actress well before she met him. In fact, she was able to ignore both D.W. Griffith’s & Flo Zigfled’s advice that she wasn’t suitable to be a movie actress; her eyes too flat & her legs too fat they said. Determined as she was, Thalberg noticed her in several small parts and offered her a contract while he was head of production at Universal. When he wouldn’t pay for Norma’s mother to accompany her to Los Angeles, however, the deal fell through. Later, when Thalberg had moved to Louis B. Mayer Productions as head of production, he again offered Norma a contract and this time she accepted.
Arriving the first day at the studio, she confused the boyish Thalberg with an office boy, bragging that she had the pick of studios, choosing Mayer over other offers. When the “office boy” took his seat behind the big desk, however, she realized her mistake and Thalberg admitted it was he who had offered her the contact at Universal. After several loan outs to Fox, Paramount & First National (Warner Bros.), Norma’s first big break came in Lon Chaney’s He Who Gets Slapped in 1924. When Mayer Productions merged with Loew’s controlled Metro films & Goldwyn Pictures to create Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Thalberg set out to create Norma as a sophisticated lady in several romances & comedies, including Lady of the Night, His Secretary & A Lady of Chance, her last silent picture.
Norma admitted to friends that one day she would be Mrs. Irving Thalberg, but the production head was slow to the table, content to romance Universal head Carl Laemmle’s daughter Rosabelle & actress Constance Talmadge. Irving’s overprotective mother preferred Norma to the other two and eventually Thalberg proposed and they were married in 1927. Her status at MGM now secure, her position as it’s leading lady was clear by 1929, when she starred in the studios first all talking drama, The Trial of Mary Dugan. While many silent stars had trouble making the transition to sound pictures, Shearer’s voice was deemed to be tone perfect.
1930 was a watershed year for Shearer. The Divorcee was released in April and ended up the #4 highest grossing film of the year, as well as being named one of the top 10 films of the year by Film Daily. Shearer also won her only Academy Award for The Divorcee, as well as being nominated for Their Own Desire, which had been released in December of 1929. She was now thought of as one of the great actresses of her time, in fact she was nominated for 4 more Academy Awards during the 1930’s.
Her carefully crafted image was also changing. With The Divorcee, A Free Soul (’31) & Private Lives (’31), Shearer was playing more bold, independent and certainly more sexual characters that each helped expand the definition of a modern woman, married or single. These roles didn’t come without a fight for Shearer, however, because her husband was reluctant to first cast her in The Divorcee. He thought she wasn’t sexy enough to pull off the free willed Jerry, who threatens her husband with the classic line “Your door may be the only one that’s closed to me from now on!” Only after a trip to a young photographer’s studio for a series of racy shots in provocative poses and slinky lingerie changed Thalberg’s mind. The fact that the photographer was George Hurrell, who went on to become the most famous photographer of the studio era, was in large part due to Norma’s need to go offsite from the MGM lot for fear Thalberg would find out and kill the shoot. (Hurrell was quickly hired by MGM and made his name capturing stars & starlets in Hollywood for the next 13 years). Her husband convinced, Shearer began a run of pre-code films that captured modernity and a more casual view of sex, marriage and fidelity. Costumed by Adrian in elegant sheath dresses and the flimsiest lingerie, Shearer took on roles that perhaps more reflected her true personality, than the costume dramas that Thalberg preferred for her later in the decade.
While on screen Shearer was sporting a wilder image, at home she was playing the part of the loyal wife, hosting parties and having babies. In 1930, Irving Jr was born and in 1935 Katherine was born. In both cases she took as little time off as possible before going back on screen. During both pregnancies she had to be hidden behind plants and furniture to hide the baby bump that would have undermined her carefree characters! Party hosting at the Thalberg’s ocean front home was also a regular occurrence, so much so that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story Crazy Sunday is a thinly masked retelling of one particular party where he embarrassed himself, only to be rescued by Shearer.
Thalberg’s health was an ongoing issue, the result of a congenitally weak heart. In 1933, for instance, a heart attack led to a prolonged European retreat for Thalberg & Shearer, which kept Shearer off screen the entire year. Before Thalberg died in 1936 Shearer had completed only 2 films since 1933, Riptide (’34) & The Barretts of Wimpole Street (’34), receiving an Academy Award nomination for the later. His death further limited her production, as she first went through a long mourning period, and then was unable to find more suitable roles that she liked. She did star in Romeo & Juliet (’36), which Thalberg had been preparing at the time of his death, & Marie Antoinette (’38), both of which brought Academy Award nominations, but she fought with MGM and was largely passed over for roles as the decade wound down. Without Thalberg’s guiding hand, it seemed, she had trouble choosing quality roles, later passing on both Mrs. Miniver (’42) & Now, Voyager (’42) to star in the forgettable Her Cardboard Lover (’42) & We Were Dancing (’42).
George Cukor’s The Women (’39) was the lone exception of a film that Thalberg had no part in developing or producing for her in the 1930’s that was a success. Her angelic Mary was the picture of domesticity and it to this day colors what most filmgoers think about Norma Shearer. The film is fantastic and she is wonderful in it, but to paint the story of Norma Shearer from it is to miss her most engaging work from early in the decade.
Facts, Rumors & Notes:
*Shearer, then 36 and recently widowed had a brief affair with the 16 year old Mickey Rooney. When discovered by Louis B. Mayer it was quickly squelched.
*Shearer was also briefly attached to both Jimmy Stewart & George Raft after Thalberg’s death.
*in 1942 Shearer retired from the movies and married Martin Arrouge, a ski instructor. She remained largely out of the public while married until her death in 1983.
*Shearer is credited with discovering Robert Evans poolside in 1956. He was cast in Man of a Thousand Faces to play Irving Thalberg.
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