Known For
Acting
Born
Aug 10, 1902
Died
Jun 12, 1983
Place of Birth
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Credits
99 titles
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
Filmography
Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn
Self (archive footage)
Vito
Self (archive)
Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood
Various Roles (archive footage)
Judy Garland: By Myself
Self (archive footage)
Checking Out: Grand Hotel
Self (archive footage)
Complicated Women
Self (archive footage)
Sports on the Silver Screen
Self (archive footage)
Joan Crawford: Always the Star
Self (archive footage)
Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell
Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
Self (archive footage)
The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Entertainment!
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
Brasileiros em Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Anniversary
Herself - Archive Footage (uncredited)
MGM Parade
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
Her Cardboard Lover
Consuelo Croyden
We Were Dancing
Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska
Escape
Countess Ruby von Treck
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
The Women
Mary Haines
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Norma Shearer
Idiot's Delight
Irene Fellara
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Hollywood Goes to Town
Self
Another Romance of Celluloid
Self (uncredited)
The Romance of Celluloid
Self (archive footage)
Romeo and Juliet
Juliet
Master Will Shakespeare
Juliet (uncredited)
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Elizabeth Barrett
Riptide
Lady Mary Rexford
Going Hollywood
Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage)
The Film Parade
(archive footage) (uncredited)
Strange Interlude
Nina Leeds
Smilin' Through
Kathleen / Moonyeen
The Movie Album
(archive footage)
The Christmas Party
Herself
Private Lives
Amanda Prynne
We’re Switching to Hollywood
Self
A Free Soul
Jan Ashe
The Stolen Jools
Owner of Stolen Jewels
Strangers May Kiss
Lisbeth Corbin
Let Us Be Gay
Kitty Brown
The Divorcee
Jerry