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Athole Shearer (November 20, 1900 - March 17,
1985) was an actress most noted as the sister of
motion picture star Norma Shearer and film sound
engineer Douglas Shearer.

Shearer was born in Montreal, Quebec. As a
teenager, her divorced mother moved the two girls
to New York City and then to Hollywood and in 1920
she obtained her first minor film roll. In 1923,
Athole Shearer married John Ward with whom she
would have a son. Divorced, in 1928 she married
again, this time to noted film director Howard
Hawks (1896-1977). They divorced twelve years
later in 1940 at a turbulent time for Hawks who
had been fired by studio owner Howard Hughes as
the director of the film The Outlaw.

Athole Shearer suffered from bipolar disorder that
went unrecognized for years resulting in her
suffering numerous problems. Although she was the
most attractive of the two Shearer sisters, her
film career was limited to a few bit parts because
of her personal difficulties. She spent many years
in mental institutions until her illness was
properly diagnosed.

Athole Shearer died in 1985 in Los Angeles,
California and was interred in the Forest Lawn
Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. 

==Filmography==
*The Restless Sex (1920)
*Way Down East (1920)
*The Flapper (1920)

See also: Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood|Other Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood