31 Facts About Norma Talmadge

Norma Marie Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era.

Norma Talmadge's younger sister Constance Talmadge was a movie star.

Norma Talmadge had two younger sisters, Natalie and Constance, both of whom became actresses.

One Christmas morning, Fred Norma Talmadge left the house to buy food, and never came back, leaving his wife to raise their three daughters.

Norma Talmadge arranged an interview for her daughter, who after an initial rejection, was hired.

Norma Talmadge was the eldest of the three daughters and the first pushed by their mother to look for a career as a film actress.

However, scenario editor Beta Breuil, attracted by Norma Talmadge's beauty, arranged a small part for her as a young girl who is kissed under a photographer's cloth in The Household Pest.

Thanks to Breuil's continued patronage, between 1911 and 1912 Norma Talmadge played bit parts in over 100 films.

Norma Talmadge eventually earned a spot in the stock company at $25 per week and got a steady stream of work.

In 1915, Norma Talmadge got her big break, starring in Vitagraph's prestigious feature film The Battle Cry of Peace, an anti-German propagandist drama, but ambitious Peg saw that her daughter's potential could carry them further, and got a two-year contract with National Pictures Company for eight features at $400 per week.

At a party, Talmadge met Broadway and film producer Joseph M Schenck, a wealthy exhibitor who wanted to produce his own films.

Norma Talmadge supervised, controlled, and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother.

When Schenck decided it was financially advantageous to rent Arbuckle to Paramount Pictures for feature films, Keaton took over the comedy unit and was brought into the Norma Talmadge family fold, at least for a time through an unhappy arranged marriage to Natalie Norma Talmadge.

Norma Talmadge made four to six films a year in New York between 1917 and 1921.

Between 1919 and 1920, Norma Talmadge's name appeared on a regular monthly fashion advice column for Photoplay magazine; her publicist was Beulah Livingstone.

Norma Talmadge teamed with cinematographer Tony Gaudio and some of Hollywood's finest costume designers for a more glamorous image.

Norma Talmadge worked with top-flight directors such as Frank Lloyd, Clarence Brown, and Frank Borzage.

Norma Talmadge was earning $10,000 a week, and receiving as many as 3,000 letters weekly from her fans.

In 1924, Schenck had moved over to head United Artists, but Norma Talmadge still had a distribution contract with First National.

Norma Talmadge continued to make successful films such as The Lady directed by Frank Borzage and the romantic comedy Kiki directed by Clarence Brown, remade later by Mary Pickford as a sound film in 1931.

Norma Talmadge asked Schenck for a divorce, but he was not ready to grant it.

Norma Talmadge was now president of the prestigious but theater-poor United Artists Corporation, and the rest of Talmadge's films were released for that company.

Norma Talmadge worked diligently with voice coaches for over a year so she could make her sound debut.

Norma Talmadge next took on the role of Madame du Barry in the 1930 film Du Barry, Woman of Passion.

Norma Talmadge had been increasingly bored with filmmaking before the talkie challenge came along, and this setback seems to have discouraged her from further attempts.

Norma Talmadge still had two more films left on her United Artists contract.

Norma Talmadge reportedly did some stage rehearsals for it in New York, but within a few months, she asked to be released from her contract.

Some time before late 1932, Norma Talmadge decided against marrying Gilbert Roland, as he was 11 years her junior and she feared he would eventually leave her.

In late 1932, Norma Talmadge began seeing her ex-husband Joseph Schenck's poker friend, comedian George Jessel.

Restless since the end of her filmmaking days, Norma Talmadge traveled, often shuttling between her houses, entertaining, and visiting with her sisters.

Norma Talmadge is interred with Constance and Natalie in their own niche in the Abbey of the Psalms in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.