1-629-871 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Norma Shearer (1902-1983), Canadian actress, c1930s-c1940s. Shearer began her film career doing extra work, but was given a five-year contract by Irving Thalberg (her future husband) when he joined Louis B. Mayer in 1923. Her first talkie was The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929) and four films later she won a Best Actress Academy Award for her role in The Divorcee (1930). Shearer was nominated for five more Academy Awards and in 1939 she was aoffered the part of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind but public objection killed the deal. She retired from acting in 1942.