Database Trivia When producer Irving Thalberg cast his wife, Norma Shearer, in the role of Elizabeth Barrett, William Randolph Hearst was enraged that his protege, Marion Davies, was not given the role. So Hearst pulled Davies out of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and placed her with Warner Brothers for the remainder of her career, and for over a year, the name "Norma Shearer" did not appear in any Hearst newspapers. more