Athole Shearer

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, 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."The Flapper (1920)"
catalog, the American Film Institute (AFI), Los Angeles, California. Retrieved August 25, 2018. 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."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. 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

* ''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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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shearer, Athole
1900 births
1985 deaths
Canadian film actresses
Canadian silent film actresses
Canadian socialites
American socialites
Actresses from Montreal
People from Westmount, Quebec
People with bipolar disorder
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Anglophone Quebec people
20th-century Canadian actresses
Canadian emigrants to the United States