Athole Shearer


Athole Shearer Hawks was a Canadian American actress, 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, Canada. Her parents divorced when she was a teenager, after which her brother Douglas remained with their father Andrew in Canada, while she and her sister Norma moved to New York City with their mother Edith, who hoped to get her daughters into show business.

Film career

In 1920, the sisters appeared as extras and in bit parts in productions filmed on location in New York, New Jersey, and Florida; but soon Edith relocated with them to California with the intention of securing contracts with one of the fast-growing studios in Hollywood.
Shearer's appearances in East Coast productions 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. In California, Athole's acting career essentially ended, never evolving or 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, a disorder her father also most likely suffered from. Her condition and personal problems associated with the illness proved to be detrimental to her film career. Ultimately, Shearer was required to spend many years in mental institutions until her disorder was properly diagnosed.

Personal life

In 1923, Shearer married John Ward, with whom she had a son, Peter. The couple divorced in 1928; and on May 30 that year she married again, then to noted film director Howard Hawks, with whom she had two more children: David, born in 1929, and Barbara, born in 1935. She and Hawks divorced in 1940, reportedly due to Hawks' affair with New York and Hollywood socialite Nancy "Slim" Gross, whom he would later marry.

Death

Shearer died in 1985 in Los Angeles, California, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Filmography