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.; Martin Arrouge was born on March 23, 1915 in San Francisco. The ski instructor met Norma Shearer in 1938, two years after the death of her first husband Irving Thalberg Sr. In 1942, Shearer married Arrouge, the marriage lasting until her death in 1983. He was a Navy aviator during World War II and later became a real estate developer and businessman. He remarried Michele Daphine Ward on August 5, 1985 and died on August 8, 1999. Photograph caption dated October 2, 1954 reads "Norma Shearer and her husband, Marty Arrough (sic) hurried through crowded lobby at Huntington Hartford Theater, but stopped long enough to greet a few friends and to smile for the cameramen." The two are formally dressed for a performance of the play "What Every Woman Knows," starring Helen Hayes. The theater is in Hollywood.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Shearer, Norma,--1902-1983 Arrouge, Martin Huntington Hartford Theatre (Organization : Hollywood, Calif.) Motion picture actors and actresses--United States Couples--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Theaters--California--Hollywood (Los Angeles) Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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