Her first talkie, The Trial of Mary Dugan (1929), turned out to be a tremendous success. Shearer's "medium-pitched, fluent, flexible Canadian accent, not quite American, but not at all foreign", was critically applauded, and thereafter widely imitated by other actresses, nervous about succeeding in talkies. Despite the popularity of her subsequent early talking films, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney and Their Own Desire (both 1929), Shearer feared the public would soon tire of her "good girl" image, and took the advice of friend and co-star Ramón Novarro to visit an unknown photographer named George Hurrell.Postrel, Virginia: "Starlight and Shadow", The Atlantic, July/August 2007, p. 149. There, she took a series of sensual portraits that convinced her husband that she could play the lead in MGM's racy new film, The Divorcee (1930).
her first talkie the trial of mary dugan (1929) turned out to be a tremendous success shearer's "medium-pitched fluent flexible canadian accent not quite american but not at all foreign" was critically applauded and thereafter widely imitated by other actresses nervous about succeeding in talkies despite the popularity of her subsequent early talking films the last of mrs cheyney and their own desire (both 1929) shearer feared the public would soon tire of her "good girl" image and took the advice of friend and co-star ramón novarro to visit an unknown photographer named george hurrellpostrel virginia "starlight and shadow" the atlantic july/august 2007 p 149 there she took a series of sensual portraits that convinced her husband that she could play the lead in mgm's racy new film the divorcee (1930)