Norma Shearer is not as remembered as some of her contemporaries since she gave up acting to live a private life in 1942. Her career started in the silent era and she became a big star, during the 1930's and after marrying Irving Thalberg, and became the "first lady of MGM".

Norma worked hard to get her fame and truly loved Irving and although some think she married him to get ahead, I don't agree. I think she would have been a success even without Thalberg's genius.

Norma started out life in Montreal, Canada on August 10, 1900 (studio publicity later claimed 1902, but 1900 is the official year of her birth). She was born to an affluent family. The family had three children so Norma had a brother, Douglas and a sister, Athole. Norma was the eldest and was christened, Edith after her mother. However, she quickly dropped the Edith in favor of Norma partially to avoid confusion with her mother and because she also felt that Norma was more "glamorous".

Her father lost his business early on in Norma's life and the family became destitute. Norma, with her mother and sister, Athole, moved to New York City in 1920, where Norma soon found work as a model and eventually films. Norma was fortunate to meet Photoplay's editor, Jimmy Quirk, who was very influential in getting Norma the recognition needed to succeed in the film industry. She was turned down to be a Ziegfeld girl but was successful as a model. She began her film career as an extra making $5 per day, but quickly moved up to get small parts. She lists her first official film as "The Flapper" in 1920.

It was apparent that Norma, although beautiful, had two major flaws. One was her legs and the other her her eyes, she had a slight cast in one eye which tended to make her appear cross eyed. Early on she had her eye corrected along with getting her teeth capped. But there wasn't much she could do about her legs. She is quoted as saying that she was "always grateful when the styles sent the hemlines plummeting toward the ankles".

After working very hard, she went to Hollywood in 1923 under contract to Louis B. Mayer. Norma saw some success early on in some films, but it wasn't until The Wolfman with John Gilbert that she got some attention. During this period Norma had many infatuations with her co-stars, but she always seemed to be attracted to married men.

Irving Thalberg was Mayer's production chief at the time, and he soon took on the task of making Norma a star. Irving Thalberg was considered a "boy genius" and although only in his late 20's, he had a serious heart condition and it was thought that he was living on borrowed time. He resided with his mother who watched over him. Soon Thalberg was infatuated with Norma and since his mother also approved of his choice, he asked Norma to marry him and they were married on September 29, 1927. The ceremony was held in Thalberg's garden and was a simple ceremony.

At first, Norma let Thalberg's mother run the house, but she soon took control herself and asked her to move out. Norma and Irving seemed to be very happy and Norma was a caring wife. They had two children together, Irving, Jr., b.1930 and Katherine, b. 1935.

Norma continued to work and her first talkie was The Trial of Mary Dugan, which won good reviews. Norma had made the transition into the talkies.

On September 14, 1936, Hollywood was desolated when Irving succumbed to his fragile health and died. During this time, Norma was working on their best and most expensive venture together, Marie Antoinette. Some believe that this is her best film, and I agree, although the Barretts of Wimpole Street, made in 1934 was also wonderful.

She soon wanted to retire, but instead continued for six more films of which the best one was, the famous film that included only female stars, The Women. Its been said that Norma and Joan Crawford hated each other and were very competitive. Joan felt that Norma had a huge advantage over her having married Thalberg and let everyone know it. It was said that they didn't get along well during this film. After playing with her in "The Women," Joan Crawford is reported to have said, "I love to play bitches and she helped me in the part," a remark that was prompted by a long series of incidents.

Norma's final film was Her Cardboard Lover, 1942 and certainly wasn't her best. Once the film was complete, she decided to retire from films and never returned.

After her retirement she had a well known affair with actor, George Raft, but soon married a ski instructor, Martin Arrouge, twenty years younger then her, and was very happy.

She did have some regrets as she turned down some films that she wished she hadn't, such as, Gone With the Wind, Mrs. Miniver and Pride and Prejudice, both of the latter films made Greer Garson a star.

In her later years, it was reported that she was in poor health, but was a very wealthy women because of her efforts to keep Irving's interests in MGM. She died in 1983 of Alzheimer's and Pneumonia. She shares adjoining crypts at Forest Lawn Cemetery with fellow MGM great, Jean Harlow.

Trivia

• Sister of Athole Shearer and twelve time Academy Award winning sound director Douglas Shearer
• Daughter of Edith Shearer
• Discovered both Janet Leigh and actor/producer Robert Evans.
• Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA, in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction.
• Sister-in-law of John Ward.
• Sister-in-law of Howard Hawks.
• Former mother-in-law of Richard Anderson.
• At the height of her career, she was earning $6,000 per week.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald based one of his most famous stories, `Crazy Sunday', on a party hosted by Shearer, who also inspired the story's main character, Stella Calman.

Read more about Norma Shearer's life at the

See additional biographical photos in the Gallery here.