Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes. Edith Norma Shearer was born on August 10, 1902 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She was one of the most popular actresses in the 1920s and 30s. Moving with her mother and sister to New York in 1920, she started out modeling and appeared in several silent films. She caught the eye of producer Hal Roach and in 1923 moved to Hollywood with a contract for $250 a week from Louis B. Mayer Pictures. MGM was formed the next year and Shearer was given starring roles. She became one of their biggest attractions and by 1925 was earning $1000 a week, rising to $5000 a week over the next five years. While at MGM, she met film producer Irving Thalberg, nicknamed "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and uncanny ability to produce very profitable films. They married in 1927 and had two children. In 1930 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film "The Divorcee." After Thalberg's death in 1936, she continued to act, finally retiring in 1942. That same year, she married Martin Arrouge, a former ski instructor. She remained active in the Hollywood social scene until 1960 when she desired more privacy. She died on June 12, 1983.; George Raft was born George Ranft in New York City on September 26, 1901. He was an American film actor and dancer known for portraying gangsters in films of the 1930s and 40s. He died on November 24, 1980. Photograph caption dated February 28, 1940 reads "Norma Shearer and George Raft, principals in the romance that Hollywood couldn't believe at first, are shown arriving. Miss Shearer has more gold on her arms, fingers and compact than the Joads ever dreamed of seeing. The bejeweled first nighters watched in tense silence as the migrants moved across the screen in their tattered squalor." Shearer is pictured in a white fur and Raft is in a tuxedo. They were attending the premiere of the film "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Four Star Theater on Wilshire Boulevard.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Shearer, Norma,--1902-1983 Raft, George Four Star Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.) Motion picture actors and actresses--United States Women--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Fur coats Motion picture premieres--California--Hancock Park (Los Angeles) Motion picture theaters--California--Hancock Park (Los Angeles) Hancock Park (Los Angeles, Calif.) Group portraits Portrait photographs Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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