INTRODUCTION

HER STORY

QUOTES

On the MGM lot, she was known as "Queen Norma" who, according to Anita Page, one of her studio contemporaries, was a "great lady and one you didn't just walk up and say hello to."

The halter is a Hollywood invention first conceived by Adrian, one of the world's most famous costume designers, for Norma Shearer. As legend has it, the star's shoulders were especially beautiful, so Adrian cut all her gowns to expose them. The halter is being revived as part of the Hollywood glamour quotient in today's fashion. Even the French, who like to claim provenance for most fashion ideas, recognize the halter's American roots. They call the halter emmanchure Américaine (American armhole).

She would order clothes from Bullock's Wilshire on approval, keep the MGM wardrobe department up all night copying the clothes, then return the originals as unsuitable. Nobody dared point out that she was being photographed at social events in the very clothes whose designs she had declared unacceptable.

One of the triumphs of L.B. Mayer's 1924 trip to Europe in search of fresh talent was his success in luring the designer Erté to MGM. Erté's genius was revealed to the Hollywood community on April 13, 1925, when his fashions were paraded at a charity show organized by the Council of Jewish Women. Among the models was Norma.

Fellow M-G-M stars Norma Shearer and Jean Harlow now share adjoining crypts at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Harlow is on the left, Shearer to the right.

Later in life Norma's unpunctuality became notorious, and it was always due to an anxiety attack about her appearance.

Before horrified pleasure seekers on the Venice amusement pier, her brother's first wife killed herself with a target pistol in front of a shooting gallery by firing a shot between her eyes.

Norma's movie "Riptide" changed the life of a poor, illegitimate girl of fifteen in the town of Los Toldos, Argentina. She saw it at a shabby local theater, found in Norma her ideal of elegance, and was moved to a dream of becoming like her one day. As a first step, she packed her few belongings in a cardboard box and went off to try her luck in Buenos Aires. A few years later, Eva Duarte met General Juan Perón. By then, she had seen "Marie Antoinette" six times.

When her son Irving junior and his wife Suzanne had their first child, Norma hesitated for two weeks before making the call that would admit grandmotherhood.

Her mother Edith had once been a glamorous socialite given to wearing costume jewelry, oversized hats, elaborate frocks and too much mascara. Later her daughter's Hollywood friends referred to her as The Merry Widow.

Norma got good reviews for "A Free Soul" but Clark Gable was the real sensation of the picture. Norma was one of the first to spot his potential-- and to try to douse it. After watching the first rough cut, she suggested a few alterations, most of them involving the elimination of Gable's best scenes. Mayer ordered the film released as it stood.

Apart from demanding her own cinematographer, Bill Daniels, Norma also insisted on a very pale and ghostly make-up called Silver Stone. This was not just a casual whim. It meant that Daniels would have to light every scene with special care, keying on Norma's face, often to the disadvantage of her co-stars.

Guests at the Thalbergs' home were apt to be confronted with such unsavory sounding tidbits as peach halves with mayonnaise and fish and chicken in patty shells.

At parties Norma liked to perform various gymnastic feats, standing on her head or sinking to the floor and rising again with a glass of water balanced on her forehead (never spilling a drop).

She would not remove her wedding ring for a role, preferring to cover it up with flesh-colored tape.

After playing with Shearer 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.

After Norma's appearance in "Romeo and Juliet" in 1936, every other girl in the country wore her hair smooth on the crown and curled up into a soft fluff below her ears.

Under the Hollywood studio system, having a baby could be an expensive proposition for a female star. Even Norma suffered a setback when she became pregnant in 1930, losing the coveted lead in "Paid", which husband Irving Thalberg had bought for her.  The part went to Joan Crawford, who made a big success of it.

To help Norma make the transition to talkies, her diction was improved by two of the most noted actresses of the day, Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Mrs. Leslie Carter.

Norma was the first to own a gasoline-propelled dressing room, a birthday gift from Irving Thalberg.

She was fond of entertaining in her studio suite. While she was making "The Barretts of Wimpole Street", for example, the cast would stop work every afternoon and congregate there to enjoy the eggnogs she liked to prepare.

Norma was a perfume fanatic and gave bottles of $30-an-ounce to all the female principals of one of her pictures.

Norma donated all her radio earning to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

While making "The Women", Joan Crawford refused to stop clacking knitting needles while Shearer was filming close-ups. Norma got upset because she couldn't concentrate. Cukor disciplined Joan... Joan stormed to her dressing room and apparently sent Norma a vituperative telegram...

Norma got the role in "Idiot's Delight" with Clark Gable only after Greta Garbo turned it down. When viewing the movie with Norma in 1973, writer Gavin Lambert realized she was parodying Garbo in the film - and Norma was pleased that he had picked up on that.

Norma's mother Edith put the great fear of aging into Norma, telling her that no movie actress should be seen in public after the age of 35. Norma's two greatest fears were first aging and next the possibility of mental illness.  In the end, Douglas Shearer was the only family member not to be diagnosed with mental illness.  Athole, Norma, Edith and Andrew (their parents) all ended up with mental illnesses.

In the late thirties Norma was involved briefly in an affair with confirmed bachelor James Stewart.

Norma had a year long romance with actor George Raft, she wanted to marry him, but Raft's estranged wife would not give him a divorce.

It has been written that Norma had her children almost to prove to Irving that she could excel as the complete woman / mother / actress. She was able later in life to develop a mutual respect with her son Irving Jr., but Katherine, her daughter, grew more apart from her mother and the two never formed a mutual bond.

In later years Irving Jr. once said that he felt that the scene showing Norma determinedly deciding to confront Joan, and then crossing the hall in the dressing-room scene in "The Women," was very much how his mother presented herself in real life!

In 1960 an attempt was made by producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin to bring a movie to the screen about the lives of Thalberg and Shearer, however Norma refused to allow any other screen actress to portray her.

Norma was offered the part of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With The Wind", and the fact was floated in the fan press. Many fans wrote in 'shocked' that their genteel Norma" had been offered the chance to play such a 'bitch.' She turned it down - probably knowing that she was too old as well, but the way it was handled by MGM gave her the chance to bow out with grace. "Besides," she said, "the one I really want to play is Rhett." She did say later, though, that she sorta regretted refusing it ..."

In the early 70's, when Norma was feeling the effects of mental illness, there was a discussion with Marti, in which she expressed a desire to end her own life, with Marti assisting. He accepted and understood her wish to die. They even spoke with Irving Jr., who agreed to her wishes, and said he would help find out if there would be any legal issues! There were, and the idea was dropped."

Writer Adela Rogers St. Johns had written "A Free Soul" with Joan Crawford in mind, and she petitioned Thalberg to let Joan play it. The actress herself pleaded for the role. But Norma wanted "A Free Soul" for herself, and she got it.

She introduced her brother Douglas Shearer to Louis B. Mayer and asked him to give her brother a job. Douglas became the most famous Director of Sound Recording in the history of MGM.

During the making of "Marie Antoinette" Norma fell hard for Tyrone Power who was 14 years her junior. All her efforts were in vain as the feeling was not reciprocated.

Her sister Athole was a bit player in movies for a while but was diagnosed with mental illness in her thirties and was later institutionalized.

For a brief time after the death of her husband Irving Thalberg she had a fling with Mickey Rooney.

At the start of her career Norma posed for illustrators and worked with advertising agencies. She found herself on a billboard at Columbus Circle, peering through a Springfield tire as "Miss Lotta Miles".

Her romance with Thalberg wasn't a quick one. Irving maintained his interest in other actresses. But when none were available, he called Norma. "I'm Irving's spare tire," she announced as she continued her patient waiting.

When Miss Shearer arrived in Hollywood and reported to the studio she thought Irving Thalberg was an office boy (due in great part to his youth and small slender build). She proceeded to treat him as such and her first acting job was to get herself out of  a real life jam!

In the well researched biography, "Norma Shearer, A Life" , written by Gavin Lambert; the author states that since her death in 1983 an unknown fan has placed fresh roses every day in the urn beside her grave loss.

When her insomnia became chronic in 1967, Norma underwent electric shock treatments. Although the depression and sleeplessness would temporarily abate, the therapy had a serious side effect - memory loss.

When she married Irving Thalberg, Norma agreed to convert to the Jewish faith as a token of respect to Henrietta, Irving's mother.

Norma wed Martin Arrouge on August 23, 1942. For the ceremony, she recycled her old platinum wedding ring, now encased in gold. This strange gesture seemed to cement the two marriages as one. It proved to be a most prophetic symbol - in the ensuing years, Norma would mistakenly call her second husband Irving with increasing regularity.

Arrouge deeply loved and protected his wife in life and in death. As she requested, the great star "Norma Arrouge" now rests for eternity within the gleaming white marble alcove beside "Irving Grant Thalberg" in the Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Glendale - a set befitting a movie Queen.

While attending a 1952 Screen Producers Guild tribute to Louis B. Mayer, Norma became visibly overwrought with emotion. The effect on Shearer was profound - it was her last public function connected with Hollywood. She would never again attend an Academy Award ceremony, or grace her presence at a film festival in her honor. In fact, she refused fan requests to sign photos - Arrouge would rubber stamp her signature on all mailed requests.

Norma turned down the lead in three of the most popular films of the early Forties - 'Now Voyager' went to Bette Davis; 'Mrs. Miniver' and 'Madame Curie' went to Greer Garson. The second and third turn downs helped pave the way for her MGM successor, Greer Garson. In fact, her reason for passing on Mrs. Miniver had nothing to do with quality, but everything to do with vanity. Shearer, now in her early forties, refused to play the mother of a twenty year old son.

Norma learned a lot from Greta Garbo. Greta's pale face - thanks to Silver Stone # 2 screen makeup - glowed on the screen, giving her the luminous look of a goddess. Norma went a step further, adopting the lightest shade then available (Silver Stone # 1). The results were an even more ethereal luminescence - audiences would need sun glasses not to notice her reflective aura. (One amusing consequence of her new cosmetic regimen - costars disappeared into shadow next to her radiant beacon)

Her most visible - and threatening - adversary of all was Joan Crawford. Joan had resented Norma from the very start, when she acted as Norma's on-screen double in "Lady of the Night" (MGM, 1925). Throughout the film, the back of Crawford's head was always to the camera, while Shearer's face was in full view. This film experience would come to symbolize Joan's resentment towards Norma. In Joan's mind, she'd never be shown to best possible advantage as long as Norma had studio head Irving Thalberg in her corner.

She had a passion for clothes, but instead of going on shopping sprees at Saks, she ordered dozens of outfits on approval from department stores, tried them out for months, finally selected two or three, and sent the rest back.

In the mid-Forties, Norma spotted the photograph of a fresh, pretty teen age girl named Jeanette Morrison in the Sun Valley lodge. Shearer used her clout at MGM to arrange a contract. Morrison would soon achieve a long and successful screen career as Janet Leigh.