Norma Shearer

She won a beauty contest at age fourteen. In 1920 her mother, Edith Shearer, took Norma and her sister Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to New York. Ziegfeld rejected her for his "Follies," but she got work as an extra in several movies. She spent much money on eye doctor's services trying to correct her cross-eyed stare caused by a muscle weakness. Irving Thalberg had seen her early acting efforts and, when he joined Louis B.

Mayer in 1923, gave her a five year contract. He thought she should retire after their marriage, but she wanted bigger parts.

Appeared with mother Edith Shearer in "A Clouded Name" in 1924.

In 1927, she insisted on firing the director Viktor Tourjansky because he was unsure of her cross-eyed stare.

Her first talkie was in The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929); four movies later, she won an Oscar in The Divorcee (1930).

She intentionally cut down film exposure during the 1930s, relying on major roles in Thalberg's prestige projects: The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934) and Romeo and Juliet (1936) (her fifth Oscar nomination).

Became a naturalized United States citizen in 1931.

Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 32, a daughter Katherine Thalberg on June 14, 1935. Child's father was her 1st husband, Irving Thalberg.

Thalberg died of a second heart attack in September, 1936, at age 37. Norma wanted to retire, but MGM more-or-less forced her into a six-picture contract. David O.

Selznick offered her the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), but public objection to her cross-eyed stare killed the deal.

She starred in The Women (1939), turned down the starring role in Mrs.

While doing research in the 20th Century-Fox archives for her biography of Natalie Wood, author Suzanne Finstead discovered that Norma Shearer was one of the early casting ideas for the role of Lucy Muir in "The ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947). Had she played the part, it would have marked Miss Shearer's return to the screen after a five year hiatus. (As things stood, Miss Shearer's last film was 1942's "Her cardboard lover.").

Was offered the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950), but she turned it down. Gloria Swanson, who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.

She has three granddaughters from her daughter: Ashley (b. circa 1962), Brooke (b. circa 1964), and Deva (b. circa 1966).

Is one of 9 actresses who have received an Academy Award nomination for portraying a real-life queen. The others in chronological order are Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968), Geneviève Bujold for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Vanessa Redgrave for Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Janet Suzman for Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Helen Mirren for The Madness of King George (1994) and The Queen (2006), Judi Dench for Mrs. Brown (1997) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech (2010).

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 726-728. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.

Her son died in 1988 of cancer. He was a philosophy professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Her daughter died in 2006 of cancer. A vegan, she headed the Society for Animal Rights in Aspen, Colorado, from 1989.

She is commemorated on one of a set of postage stamps (issued in 2008) honoring prominent Canadians in Hollywood. The other stamps feature Marie Dressler, Chief Dan George and Raymond Burr.

On August 10, 2020, she was honored with a day of her filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars. The date would also have been Shearer's birthday.