Edward Norris (Who’s Who at MGM, 1937) 🇺🇸
Born in Philadelphia, March 10, Edward Norris received his first schooling at Penn Charter. He became interested in dramatics when he was ten, but was forced to give up his acting when his parents, Dr. Richard C. Norris and Grace Norris, sent him to Culver Military Academy.
He didn’t like the life of a cadet, so he ran away to New York and shipped aboard a four-master around Cape Horn. The voyage took eight and a half months and they spent two months in quarantine off San Francisco. After the trip he had lost his love of the sea.
Was Newspaper Man
Returning to his home, his father got him a job on the Philadelphia Ledger. Later he worked on the Philadelphia Bulletin and Morning Record.
He again took up dramatics, joined the Philadelphia Professionals and then went to New York to play with the Theatre Union Group. Again his interest in the theatre was interrupted when he had to go to the coast to settle his mother’s estate.
He started back to New York by boat, but got only as far as the Panama Canal, where he worked on the Panama-American newspaper as a reporter for two months. Then he decided to return to Hollywood and make a try for screen recognition.
Picked by Mamoulian
Months passed in which his money gradually diminished, but finally he got a role in a play, Doomsday Circus, which flopped after ten days. A scout saw his performance and reported to Rouben Mamoulian, who was casting Queen Christina, and gave him a role.
On the strength of his work in a short subject, “The Perfect Alibi,” he was raised to the rank of featured player. Among his pictures are “Show Them No Mercy,” “Tough Guy,” “Small Town Girl,” “Mama Steps Out,” “Song of the City,” “Between Two Women,” and “Bay Guy.”
He is a six-footer, weighs 160 pounds, has dark brown hair and brown eyes. His favorite sports are football, tennis and swimming. He is a licensed airplane pilot.
He has the distinction of having made a solo flight after two hours of instruction— for that reason he is not allowed to indulge in his favorite sport while working in a picture.
Norris likes to read Tolstoy, Somerset Maugham and Eugene O’Neill, and enjoys listening to Tschaikowsky when played by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.
Honeymoon by Plane
His father was president of the American Medical Association and was one of the most famous obstetricians and gynaecologists in the country. He was also chief of staff at three of Philadelphia’s major hospitals. He recently retired.
Norris married Ann Sheridan a few months ago and they took a flying honeymoon, traveling by air to the interior of Mexico for a hunting trip.
He used to have a honey bear for a pet, but his wife sent it to the Zoo when they moved into their new apartment.
He is considered one of the most promising young leading men on the M-G-M lot and is expected to develop into stardom along the same lines as Robert Taylor.
To fulfil this prediction, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is carefully developing Norris, bringing him along slowly to better and better roles. His latest assignment was the romantic lead in “Bad Guy.”
Norris is quiet, serious and studious.
Collection: Who’s Who at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1937)