Norma Shearer
By the time Norma Shearer was nine, she knew exactly what she wanted – to be an actress. Dubbed “The Queen of Hollywood” by Louis B. Mayer, Norma Shearer began her movie career not in front of a camera but playing the piano at silent movie theatres in Montreal.
After a few small parts and good notices, Shearer caught the attention of an executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where made a few films that helped build her fan base and polish her acting skills. Her big break came with the role of Kathy in The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg. The camera loved her.
Norma’s larger films, including The Divorcee and her final silent feature, A Lady of Chance. Her first talking role in The Trial of Mary Dugan was a great success. Her “medium pitched, fluent, flexible Canadian accent” was widely imitated and critically applauded. In 1931, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in The Divorcee, accepting her award alongside her brother, Douglas Shearer, who won Best Sound Recording for The Big House, the only time a brother and sister have been honoured in the same year. Her success continued, with movies including The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Romeo and Juliet, Marie Antoinette, and The Women and Escape.
Norma Shearer married her second husband, ski instructor Martin Arrouge, in 1942 and retired from the screen.
Douglas Shearer
Douglas Shearer was one of the technical geniuses whose talents were vital to creating motion picture magic.
Douglas Shearer left high school during his graduation year to work and support his family. Fascinated by light and sound, Shearer shadowed his supervisors at Northern Electric Company, studying their experimental work in the use of electricity for carrying signals over long distances.
In 1923, he bought a rail ticket and headed to California, joining MGM Studios in 1925 to experiment with lighting, film, and cameras. When he asked about sound, his boss, Irving Thalberg, said, “That’s a long way off, if it ever comes. But yes, sound if you wish.”
In 1928, sound pictures came to MGM, and Shearer was appointed head of the sound department, a position he held until his retirement. Shearer initiated the idea of playing the soundtrack for a musical number so it would be filmed in sync with the music. That groundbreaking film was The Broadway Melody (1929), which won the Oscar for Best Picture that year. It was billed as an “All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!” movie.
Shearer won his first Academy Award for Best Sound Recording with The Big House. At the 1931 ceremony, he shared the stage with his younger sister Norma, who won an Academy Award for acting, the only time in Oscar history that a brother and sister were awarded on the same night.
During his tenure at MGM, Shearer was involved in improving virtually every scientific and technical aspect of the motion picture business. Upon his death in January of 1971, The New York Times gave Douglas Shearer’s obituary 15 column inches on the front page an honour usually reserved for giants of industry, heads of state and very few actors and actresses.
