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