Norma Talmadge
Norma Talmadge ( born May 26, 1893 in Jersey City, New Jersey, † December 24, 1957 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American actress of the silent film and early sound era.
Life
Her father, an alcoholic, left Norma, her mother and their two other daughters Natalie Talmadge ( who later married Buster Keaton ) and Constance Talmadge. At the age of 14 years, Norma played with in the first film productions and rose rapidly to become one of the stars of Vitagraph, which had among other things, Alice Joyce under contract. In August 1915, the Talmadge family moved to Hollywood, where Norma a year later, the film producer Joseph Schenck married, who produced their films and their rise to become one of the biggest stars coordinated alongside Mary Pickford.
Norma soon specializing in tearful melodramas and earned mid-decade $ 25,000 plus profit sharing per film. While her sister Constance established itself as a comedienne ( a field in which she had next to Marion Davies few competitors ), Norma's success was based on a continuous flow of tears. However, with the advent of new celebrities like Colleen Moore, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer and Clara Bow took Norma's appeal at the box office from the middle of the decade, increasing from. A change to United Artists, which the Talmadge sisters completed in 1927, did not help the dwindling popularity.
Despite a strong Brooklyn accent, she decided, unlike her sister Constance, to accept the challenge of the talkies. After the half-hearted success of their first sound films she turned - against the explicit advice of her mother and all acquaintances - 1930 the film for which it is best known today: Du Barry - Woman of Passion. The film about Madame du Barry, the famous courtesan at the court of Louis XV. was such a failure and Norma's inadequate representation was so ragged that even in the musical Singin 'in the Rain was a parody made about twenty years later. Thus, her film career was over. With the legendary quote, it was too rich to carry on, Norma Talmadge moved more and more into their own world of pills, alcohol and illusions. Your bizarre behavior inspired Billy Wilder to the figure of Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard.
The director Clarence Brown praised Norma Talmadge as one of the best actresses of the silent era.