Norma Shearer

Queen Norma Shearer was a celebrated actress who began her royal ascension to the big screen at the tender age of fourteen, when she won a beauty contest. In 1920, her mother, Queen Edith Shearer, brought Norma and her sister, Queen Athole Shearer (Mrs. Howard Hawks) to the grand city of New York, where the young princesses were met with the greatest of opportunities. Though she was rejected by the esteemed King Ziegfeld for his "Follies," she was hired as an extra in various productions. She even spent much of her fortune on eye doctor's services trying to correct her cross-eyed stare, which was caused by a muscle weakness. King Irving Thalberg had seen her early acting efforts and, upon joining King Louis B. Mayer in 1923, gave her a five year contract. Though he thought she should retire after their marriage, she desired grander parts, and in 1927, she bravely fired the director of one of her films and began to take control of her own career.