American film producer Irving Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 30, 1899. Years later, when a young actress named Norma Shearer arrived for a studio interview, she mistook the polite young man who opened the door for an office boy. Only after he escorted her inside and sat behind the executive desk did she realize she was speaking to the studio’s vice president — the legendary “Boy Wonder” of MGM. Their partnership soon became personal as well as professional, culminating in a marriage that shaped Hollywood’s golden age.
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