The Divorcee

Norma Shearer (Actor) .. Jerry Martin

Born: August 11, 1902
Died: June 12, 1983
Birthplace: Westmount, Quebec, Canada

Trivia: The winner of a beauty contest at 14, she was born into a wealthy family that lost everything in the 1910s. Her mother brought her to New York in the hope that show business might provide the family with money. Shearer failed an audition with Florenze Ziegfeld but found some work as a model. She began appearing in bit roles in New York-shot films in 1920; in one of these, The Stealers (1920), she was spotted by talent scout Irving Thalberg, who couldn't track her down until 1923. Signed to a long-term screen contract in 1925, she began playing leads in numerous films. Meanwhile, Thalberg rose to a position of authority at MGM; she married him in 1927 and started getting the best roles the studio had to offer, leading her to stardom. Shearer got her pick of directors and scripts, and made sure to vary her work so she would avoid being typecast. She received five Oscar nominations, winning for The Divorcee (1930). Soon she was billed by MGM as "the First Lady of the Screen." Thalberg died at age 37 in 1936, after which Shearer showed bad judgment in her choice of films; she turned down the leads in Gone with the Wind and Mrs. Miniver and instead appeared in two consecutive flops, We Were Dancing and Her Cardboard Lover (both 1942). After that she retired from the screen, meanwhile marrying a ski instructor 20 years her junior.

Chester Morris (Actor) .. Ted Martin

Born: February 16, 1901
Died: September 11, 1970
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States

Trivia: An actor with slicked-back hair, a jutting jaw and a hooked nose, Morris was the son of well-known Broadway performers. As a child he appeared in silents and as a teenager he began a stage acting career; he made his Broadway debut in 1918. He debuted onscreen in Alibi (1929), for which he received a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He went on to a busy screen career, usually in gun-toting roles. He is best remembered as Boston Blackie, the character he played in a series of 13 films. He retired from the screen in 1956, returning in 1970 to play the fight manager in The Great White Hope (1970). Shortly thereafter he died of an overdose of barbiturates.

Conrad Nagel (Actor) .. Paul

Born: March 16, 1897
Died: February 24, 1970

Trivia: In 1914 Nagel began acting professionally onstage. He broke into films in 1918 and soon became one of the top (and most suave) matinee idols of the silent screen. After an extremely busy career in silents, he starred in one of the first talkies, Glorious Betsy (1928); his voice and performance were impressive, and he was thereafter much in demand for sound films. He directed one film, Love Takes Flight (1937). Nagel remained intermittently busy as a screen actor until 1940, after which he appeared in only a handful of additional films. He starred on both radio and Broadway in the '40s. He was a co-founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and served for a time as its president, and he was involved in the creation of the Academy Awards. Until his death he was president of the Associated Actors and Artists of America. In 1947 he was awarded a special Oscar for his work on the Motion Picture Relief Fund. He hosted the TV drama anthology series "The Silver Theater" (having long hosted its earlier radio incarnation) and was the MC of the TV quiz show "Celebrity Time."

Robert Montgomery (Actor) .. Don

Born: May 21, 1904
Died: September 27, 1981
Birthplace: Fishkill Landing, New York, United States

Trivia: Actor/director/producer. In his early career, from the late '20s to the early '40s, Montgomery was an amiable light comedian and dramatic actor, appearing in almost 40 sound films before 1935. He starred opposite Norma Shearer in Private Lives (1931), Joan Crawford in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937), Carole Lombard in Hitchcock's comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Night Must Fall (1937) and Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). His career took a more serious turn after his stint in World War II. For his first film after returning, They Were Expendable (1945), Montgomery not only starred but assisted John Ford in the direction. He also starred in and directed the Raymond Chandler detective thriller Lady in the Lake, noted for its unique first-person point of view. His attentions then turned to politics and television. Montgomery gave "friendly" testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and by the mid '50s was a consultant to Republican President Eisenhower. As a prestigious television producer, he supervised the '50s dramatic anthology series Eye Witness (1953) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950-57), which offered his daughter Elizabeth her acting debut and which won him an early Emmy Award in 1952.

Florence Eldridge (Actor) .. Helen

Born: September 05, 1901
Died: August 01, 1988

Trivia: Brooklyn-born Florence Eldridge was a popular Broadway ingenue from age 17 onward. Among her stage credits of the 1920s were the original productions of Six Cylinder Love (she repeated her role for the 1923 film version) and The Cat and the Canary. Eldridge matured into a brilliant dramatic actress in the 1930s, winning several awards in the process, including the New York Drama Critics prize for her performance in the 1956 Pulitzer Prize winner Long Day's Journey Into Night. From 1935 onward, Eldridge's film appearances were few in number; when she did appear before the cameras, it was always in the company of her husband, Fredric March. Eldridge's last theatrical film was Inherit the Wind (1960), in which she played the loyal wife of lawyer Matthew Harrison Brady--portrayed, of course, by Fredric March. Three years after her husband's death, Florence Eldridge appeared in her only made-for-TV movie, 1978's First, You Cry.

Helene Millard (Actor) .. Mary

Robert Elliott (Actor) .. Bill Baldwin

Born: October 09, 1879
Died: January 01, 1963

Mary Doran (Actor) .. Janice

Born: September 03, 1907

Trivia: Blonde leading 1920s starlet Mary Doran attended college at Columbia University. Originally planning on a teaching career, Doran instead became a professional tap dancer, working for Flo Ziegfeld on Broadway before she was signed to an MGM contract in 1928. During the first years of the talkies, Doran showed up in such major releases as Broadway Melody (1929), The Divorcee (1930), and Our Blushing Brides (1930), usually cast as a flirt or gold digger. After her MGM option lapsed, she freelanced at Universal, Columbia, and Paramount; though no longer appearing in major roles in A-pictures, she was afforded a worthwhile supporting part in Lubitsch's Love Me Tonight (1932) and a funny bit as a screen-test actress in Harold Lloyd's Movie Crazy (1932). Mary Doran left films after co-starring with George O'Brien and Polly Ann Young in the quickie Western Border Patrolman (1936).

Tyler Brooke (Actor) .. Hank

Born: June 06, 1891
Died: March 02, 1943

Trivia: Stage actor Tyler Brooke was signed to a movie contract by Hollywood producer Hal Roach in 1926. One of Brooke's first assignments was a role opposite fading movie queen Theda Bara in the nonsensical two-reeler Madame Mystery. He ended his association with Roach on a discordant note, suing fellow contractee Oliver Hardy for $100,000 in 1929, claiming that Hardy had fractured his arm during an overzealous game of pool. Brooke made the transition to talkies as a society rake in Cecil B. DeMille's first sound films, Dynamite (1929) and Madam Satan (1930). Throughout the 1930s, Brooke showed up in several period pictures like Belle of the Nineties (1934) and Alexander Graham Bell (1939), usually cast as a handlebar-mustached quartet singer or musical hall comedian. He was quite amusing as the young Gay-90s swain in the prologue of 1940's Kitty Foyle. Tyler Brooke was 51 when he died of self-inflicted carbon monoxide poisoning.

Zelda Sears (Actor) .. Hannah, Jerry's Maid

Born: January 01, 1873
Died: February 19, 1935

Trivia: Musical comedy favorite Zelda Sears made her Broadway debut in the 1908 production Nearly a Hero. As busy a playwright as an actress, Sears penned the librettos for several long-running musicals, often in collaboration with Harold Levy; she also came up with such non-musical stage fare as The Clinging Vine, Cornered, and Road to Paradise, all of which were later filmed. Coming to Hollywood during the talkie revolution, she co-wrote many of Marie Dressler's best screen vehicles, including Tugboat Annie. Zelda Sears also acted in such early sound productions as The Divorcee and The Bishop Murder Case (both 1930).

George Irving (Actor) .. Dr. Bernard

Born: November 28, 1895
Died: June 28, 1980

Trivia: Actor and director George Irving gained fame on both the Broadway stage and in feature films. Before launching his professional career, Iriving graduated from New York's City College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He then went on to play the leads in numerous Broadway shows before breaking into film in 1913, where he played many different character roles.

Helen Johnson (Actor) .. Dorothy

Judith Wood (Actor) .. Dorothy

Born: August 01, 1906

Theodor Von Eltz (Actor) .. Ivan

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, Tuesday, April 14 on WEPT Main Street Media (15.2)