Norma Shearer - Retirement

Retirement

After Thalberg's death, Shearer retained a lawyer to ensure that Thalberg's percentages of films he had worked on were still paid to his estate, which was contested by MGM. When she took the story to gossip columnist Louella Parsons, the studio was forced to give in and granted all the profits from MGM movies made and released from 1924 to 1938, meaning the estate eventually received over $1.5 million in percentage payments. Nevertheless, Shearer's contract was renewed for six films at $150,000 each. During this time, she embarked on romances with the then married actor George Raft, Mickey Rooney, and James Stewart. Raft, (who separated from his wife soon after they were married) stated publicly that he wanted to marry Shearer, with whom he had a long romance. However, his wife's refusal to allow a divorce eventually caused Shearer to end the affair.

Following her retirement in 1942, she married Martin Arrougé (March 23, 1914 – August 8, 1999), a former ski instructor twelve years her junior. Although often attending public events in her later life, Shearer withdrew from the glamor side of Hollywood and preferred anonymity, with her secretary stating in 1960: "Miss Shearer does not want any publicity. She doesn't talk to anyone. But I can tell you that she has refused many requests to appear in motion pictures and TV shows." They were remained married until her death, although in her declining years she repeatedly called Arrougé "Irving".