1902-08-10 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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.
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Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood | Various Roles (archive footage) | 2008-03-03 |
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Checking Out: Grand Hotel | Self (archive footage) | 2004-02-03 |
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Judy Garland: By Myself | Self (archive footage) | 2004-02-25 |
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Complicated Women | Self (archive footage) | 2003-05-06 |
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Sports on the Silver Screen | Self (archive footage) | 1997-03-16 |
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Joan Crawford: Always the Star | Self (archive footage) | 1996-09-30 |
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That's Entertainment! III | (archive footage) | 1994-07-01 |
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You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story | Self (archive footage) | 1990-07-23 |
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The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind | Self (archive footage) | 1988-10-01 |
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1983-02-25 |
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That's Entertainment! | (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1974-06-21 |
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Hollywood: The Dream Factory | Self (archive footage) | 1972-01-10 |
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Anniversary | Herself - Archive Footage (uncredited) | 1963-01-01 |
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Twenty Years After | (archive footage) | 1944-01-01 |
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Her Cardboard Lover | Consuelo Croyden | 1942-07-16 |
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We Were Dancing | Victoria Anastasia Wilomirska | 1942-04-30 |
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Escape | Countess Ruby von Treck | 1940-11-01 |
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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound | Self | 1940-10-24 |
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Hollywood: Style Center of the World | Self | 1940-05-29 |
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Cavalcade of the Academy Awards | Self | 1940-07-31 |
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From the Ends of the Earth | Self | 1939-05-28 |
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Idiot's Delight | Irene Fellara | 1939-01-27 |
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Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8 | Norma Shearer | 1939-04-08 |
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The Women | Mary Haines | 1939-09-01 |
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Hollywood Goes to Town | Self | 1938-07-07 |
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Marie Antoinette | Marie Antoinette | 1938-08-26 |
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Another Romance of Celluloid | Self (uncredited) | 1938-02-05 |
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The Romance of Celluloid | Self (archive footage) | 1937-08-27 |
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Master Will Shakespeare | Juliet (uncredited) | 1936-06-13 |
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Romeo and Juliet | Juliet | 1936-09-03 |
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Riptide | Lady Mary Rexford | 1934-03-29 |
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The Barretts of Wimpole Street | Elizabeth Barrett | 1934-09-21 |
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Going Hollywood | Herself - Premiere Clip (archive footage) | 1933-12-22 |
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The Film Parade | (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1933-01-01 |
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Strange Interlude | Nina Leeds | 1932-12-30 |
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Smilin' Through | Kathleen / Moonyeen | 1932-09-24 |
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Strangers May Kiss | Lisbeth Corbin | 1931-04-04 |
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The Christmas Party | Herself | 1931-12-17 |
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Private Lives | Amanda Prynne | 1931-12-12 |
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The Stolen Jools | Owner of Stolen Jewels | 1931-04-04 |
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A Free Soul | Jan Ashe | 1931-06-02 |
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Wir schalten um auf Hollywood | Self | 1931-06-09 |
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Let Us Be Gay | Kitty Brown | 1930-07-11 |
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The Divorcee | Jerry | 1930-04-19 |
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The Last of Mrs. Cheyney | Fay Cheyney | 1929-07-06 |
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Their Own Desire | Lucia 'Lally' Marlett | 1929-12-27 |
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The Trial of Mary Dugan | Mary Elizabeth Dugan | 1929-06-08 |
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The Hollywood Revue of 1929 | Self / Juliet | 1929-11-23 |
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A Man's Man | Norman Shearer (uncredited) | 1929-05-25 |
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A Lady of Chance | Dolly Morgan | 1928-12-01 |
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The Latest from Paris | Ann Dolan | 1928-02-04 |
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The Actress | Rose Trelawny | 1928-04-27 |
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The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg | Kathi | 1928-01-30 |
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The Demi-Bride | Criquette | 1927-02-19 |
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After Midnight | Mary Miller | 1927-08-20 |
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The Devil's Circus | Mary | 1926-02-14 |
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Upstage | Dolly Haven | 1926-11-06 |
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The Waning Sex | Nina Duane | 1926-09-05 |
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The End of the World | Mary Ellen Hope | 1925-04-01 |
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The End of the World | Mary Ellen Hope | 1925-04-01 |
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A Slave of Fashion | Katherine Emerson | 1925-08-23 |
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The Tower of Lies | Glory/Goldie | 1925-10-10 |
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Pretty Ladies | Frances White | 1925-09-06 |
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Lady of the Night | Molly Helmer / Florence Banning | 1925-02-23 |
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1925 Studio Tour | Self | 1925-04-09 |
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His Secretary | Ruth Lawrence | 1925-12-06 |
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Waking Up the Town | Mary Ellen Hope | 1925-03-30 |
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Excuse Me | Marjorie Newton | 1925-01-19 |
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The Trail of the Law | Jerry Vardon | 1924-01-25 |
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Broken Barriers | Grace Durland | 1924-08-18 |
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Blue Water | Lillian Denton | 1924-04-16 |
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Broadway After Dark | Rose Dulane | 1924-05-19 |
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Married Flirts | Norma Shearer (uncredited) | 1924-10-27 |
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The Snob | Nancy Claxton | 1924-11-10 |
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He Who Gets Slapped | Consuelo | 1924-12-22 |
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The Wolf Man | Elizabeth Gordon | 1924-02-17 |
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Empty Hands | Claire Endicott | 1924-08-17 |
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Pleasure Mad | Elinor Benton | 1923-11-05 |
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Man and Wife | Dora Perkins | 1923-03-25 |
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The Devil's Partner | Jeanne | 1923-06-01 |
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A Clouded Name | Marjorie Dare | 1923-02-19 |
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Lucretia Lombard | Mimi Winship | 1923-12-08 |
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The Wanters | Marjorie | 1923-11-26 |
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The Taming of the Shrewd | Rose Del Mar | 1922-04-10 |
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The Bootleggers | Helen Barnes | 1922-04-01 |
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The Man Who Paid | Jeanne Thornton | 1922-03-01 |
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Channing of the Northwest | Jess Driscoll | 1922-04-10 |
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The Flapper | Schoolgirl (uncredited) | 1920-05-10 |
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Way Down East | Barn Dancer (uncredited) | 1920-09-03 |
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The Restless Sex | Reveler at Artists Ball (uncredited) | 1920-11-12 |
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The Stealers | Julie Martin | 1920-10-03 |
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Torchy's Millions | (uncredited) | 1920-10-03 |
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The Star Boarder | Big V Beauty Squad Member (uncredited) | 1919-05-26 |
