Athole Shearer

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Athole Dane Shearer Hawks (November 20, 1900 – March 17, 1985) was a Canadian-American actress and socialite, who was the sister of motion picture star Norma Shearer and MGM film sound engineer Douglas Shearer.

Early life

Athole Dane Shearer was born in 1900 in Montreal, Quebec. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager, her brother Douglas remained with their father Andrew in Canada, and she and her sister Norma moved to New York City with their mother Edith. The latter hoped to get her daughters into show business.<ref name="Katz">Template:Cite book</ref>

Film career

In 1920, the sisters appeared as extras and in bit parts in productions filmed in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, but Edith moved with them to California with the intention of securing contracts with one of the studios in Hollywood.<ref name="Katz" /><ref>"Douglas Shearer", biographical profile, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc. New York, N.Y. Retrieved August 24, 2018.</ref>

Shearer's appearances in productions in the eastern United States consisted of only small uncredited roles in three films, the first being as a schoolgirl in The Flapper, a silent comedy released by Selznick Pictures Corporation.<ref>"The Flapper (1920)", catalog, the American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved August 25, 2018.</ref> In California, Athole's acting career essentially ended, never achieving the success experienced by Norma at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Bipolar disorder

A contributing factor to Shearer's limited work in motion pictures was her persistent medical issues, most notably her long struggle with bipolar disorder, from which her father most likely also suffered.Template:Efn Her condition and personal problems associated with the illness proved to be detrimental to her film career. Ultimately, Shearer spent many years in mental institutions until her disorder was diagnosed.Template:Citation needed

Personal life

In 1923, Shearer married John Ward, with whom she had a son, Peter.<ref name="Census1940">"Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940", Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California, April 1940; digital image of federal census page listing the family of "Howard W. Hawkes", identified as a director of motion pictures. FamilySearch, archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Retrieved August 25, 2018. In the cited census, Barbara "Hawkes" is documented to be 5-years-old at the time; David, 11-years-old; and Peter, 15-years old.</ref> The couple divorced in 1928; and on May 30 that year she married again, this time to film director Howard Hawks, with whom she had two more children: David, born in 1929, and Barbara, born in 1935.<ref name="Census1940" /> She and Hawks divorced in 1940, reportedly due to Hawks' affair with New York and Hollywood socialite Nancy "Slim" Gross, whom he later married.Template:Citation needed

Death

Shearer died in 1985 in Los Angeles, and she was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.<ref>Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>

Filmography

• The Flapper (1920)
• Way Down East (1920)
• The Restless Sex (1920)

See also

• Other Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood

References

Notes

Citations

External links

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