Norma Shearer Movies

Want to know the best Norma Shearer movies?  How about the worst Norma Shearer movies?  Curious about Norma Shearer’s box office grosses or which Norma Shearer movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Norma Shearer movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences? Well you have come to the right place.

Norma Shearer (1902-1983) was one of the most popular actresses from the mid-1920s through the 1930s.  From 1929 to 1938 she picked up an incredible 6 Best Actress Oscar® nominations.  She was the third woman ever to win a Best Actress Oscar®.  She won for 1930’s The Divorcee.  By 1942 she had appeared in her last movie and spent the rest of her life shunning the limelight.  Her IMDb page shows 62 acting credits from 1919-1942.   This page ranks Norma Shearer movies in 6 different columns of sortable information.  Sadly some of her silent movies did not make the table due to lack of box office grosses.

Norma Shearer in 1939's The Women
Norma Shearer in 1939’s The Women

Norma Shearer Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.

Norma Shearer Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Norma Shearer movies by co-stars or in some cases directors
  • Sort Norma Shearer movies by adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Norma Shearer movies by adjusted worldwide box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort Norma Shearer movies by how the movie was received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Norma Shearer movie received.
  • Sort Norma Shearer movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in 1931s A Free Soul
Clark Gable and Norma Shearer in 1931s A Free Soul

Possibly Interesting Facts About Norma Shearer

1.  Norma Shearer’s childhood was spent in Montreal, Canada.  After winning a beauty contest at age 14, Shearer’s mother took Norma and her sister to New York City in 1920 to audition for Ziegfeld’s Follies.

2.  Although Shearer was rejected as a Ziegfeld Follie…she found roles as an extra in movies.  By 1923 she had secured a 5-year contract with MGM.

3.  Due to muscle weakness in her eyes…Norma Shearer had a cross-eyed stare.

4.  Norma Shearer’s sister, Athole, married legendary director, Howard Hawks.  So for 12 years, Howard Hawks was Norma’s brother-in-law.

5.  Norma Shearer’s brother, Douglas Shearer, was a 12 time Oscar® winner.  He won his Oscars® for sound recording.  Norma and Douglas were the first brother and sister to be Oscar® winners.

6.  Norma Shearer was married twice.  Her first marriage was to a movie studio executive, Irving Thalberg.  They were married from 1927 until his death in 1936. They had two children a boy and a girl. Irving Thalberg was the subject of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last novel…The Last Tycoon.  Robert DeNiro played the Thalberg character in the movie…The Last Tycoon.  Shearer’s second marriage was to Martin Arrouge.  She was married to Arrouge from 1942 until her death.

7.  Norma Shearer was offered the part of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind.  Due to negative fan feedback…she decided to not accept the offer to play the part.

8.  While staying at a ski lodge, Norma Shearer noticed a photo of the receptionist’s daughter and recommended her to MGM.  The receptionist’s daughter was Jamie Lee Curtis’ mom….Janet Leigh.

9.  Norma Shearer always refused to take her wedding ring off while making her movies.  She preferred to cover it up with flesh-colored tape.

10.  Check out Norma Shearer’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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42 thoughts on “Norma Shearer Movies”

  1. BRUCE:

    1 I’ve been awaiting this update for some time because Shearer has always interested me as she was one of the really big female stars of the first talkie years who made the successful transition from silent movies.

    2 Unfortunately her career barely got past the 30s and after her final two films in 1942 flopped she retired from the screen.

    3 To me the Worldwide updates are again most welcome but I see that you still got just 19 out of 20 Their Own Desire (1930) once more beating you. I’m not complaining though because I can think of nowhere else where one would locate such comprehensive box office coverage of the talking pictures career of a 1920s/30s actress.

    4 I couldn’t help chuckling when I saw you referring to Janet Leigh as “Jamie Lee Curtis’ mom” as it reminded me of Kirk Douglas saying wistfully in an interview”These days I’m known only as Michael Douglas’ father.” I think that when she made her debut in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) at the age of 20 Janet was one of the most beautiful women that I have ever seen on the screen. My personal favourite Janet Leigh movie was Holiday Affair (1949) with Big Bob [you gave us a worldwide figure for that movie too!]

    5 Anyway Norma’s update is another good piece of work from my perspective.

    Best wishes

    BOB

    Reply

    1. Hey Bob.
      1. This Norma Shearer update really helped her numbers….she went from a lowly 2 $100 million dollar movies to 15….with the new rentals to gross numbers.
      2. The passing of her husband….the late great Irving Thalberg pretty much derailed her career….plus she turned 39 in 1938….the curse of 39 strikes again
      3. I feel 19 out of 20 worldwide grosses is incredible….thank you MGM ledgers…..actually WoC has to go to Vegas next month for a minute….since she needs supervision…I am going to HAVE to go to Vegas again. But that puts me just a couple hours away from the USC library where the actual ledgers are located….and I have an appointment to be with the Warner Brothers ledgers next month. WoC is 80% sure we are a go….though that is down from the 90% sure we are a go when I made the USC appointment.
      4. That is indeed how young people refer to some of these legends…plus I wonder how many people look at Debbie Reynolds and say…hey it is Princess Leia’s mom.
      Glad you enjoyed the latest update.

      Reply

  2. Hi, Bruce.

    Thanks to TCM’s Star of the Month tribute to Norma Shearer this year I can now say that I have seen 18 of the 20 movies you have listed.

    Hooray!

    My favourite of her costars remains Robert Montgomery.
    Flora

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora….very cool. 90% is pretty stellar. I am at 4 now….or 20%. Since my last tally count I have seen The Women. Joan Crawford steals the show in that one. Thanks for the update.

      Reply

  3. Regarding Norma Shearer;

    I have seen more of her films than you or Steve, but I have not seen as many of hers films as that of her costars of The Women or other contemporaries.

    The highest ranking film I have seen of hers is No. 1: The Divorcee. The lowest ranking film I have seen is No. 18: Strange Interlude.

    I have seen The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Not any easy film to find.

    The Last of Mrs. Cheyney is my favourite.

    I have seen 3 of the top 5, but only 9 overall. Much higher totals for The Women costars….

    Flora

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora….9 is 45% of the movies listed…that is pretty impressive especially when Steve and I only get to 25% COMBINED. Flora 9, Steve 3, me 2….after a little time on the bottom of the tally counts….I see you are back in the top spot.

      Idiot’s Delight is one of the 3 Shearer movies that I have seen….I did not like that one at all….actually after seeing that one….I stopped looking for Shearer movies to watch…..although I do want to still see The Women. I will have to check out The Last of Mrs. Cheyney too…..as always thanks for stopping by and commenting.

      Reply

  4. It’s hard to believe but despite being popular with audiences at the time both Marie Antoinette and The Women actually incurred losses because of their high production costs.

    Reply

    1. Hey wtread….I agree. Although The Women made a little money….12%…..but for one of the biggest hits of the year…that is pretty low….thanks for checking out my Shearer page

      Reply

  5. This is interesting, Norma Shearer, I had to check my movie database on some of these titles and was surprised to find I’ve only seen two of her films – Romeo and Juliet and Idiot’s Delight. I thought I had Marie Antoinette here but nope. The one I would like to see is Barretts of Wimpole Street which co-stars one of my favorites, Charles Laughton. Well I’m so glad she wasn’t cast as Scarlett O’Hara, Vivien Leigh was perfect in the role. Another fascinating movie page Bruce, voted up.

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve….as always thanks for the visit and the comment. So your tally count is 2. I am at 3. I saw Idiot’s Delight a few months ago….I saw The Divorcee and A Free Soul years ago. I think the movie I will track down next is The Women. It is at my local library…and I have thought about checking it out a few times….I am sure doing this page will motivate me to watch it. Plus it stars Joan Crawford.

      Reply

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