Norma Shearer

Many people identify Norma Shearer with the characters she plays in her movies of the 1930s - fragile violets, trembling with feminine emotion, eyes delicately glistening.

It is not a persona that has worn especially well. It is also unfair on Norma, a star who began her career under quite a different persona - a liberated modern woman, the very epitome of the spirit of the Pre-Code film.

In `Lady of the Night' (1925) she played two roles - a rebellious never-do-well named Molly, and the straight-arrow daughter of a judge, Florence. When Florence and Molly both fall in love with the same man, they both discover a different side of themselves.

This is a handy metaphor for Norma's own film career - as adept as a sinner as she was as a saint.

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Education

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• Norma
• Silent
• Film