Audree Norton

Audree Lauraine Norton (January 13, 1927 – April 22, 2015) was a deaf actress. She was born in Great Falls, Montana and raised in Minnesota.

Audree Norton
Born(1927-01-13)January 13, 1927
Great Falls, Montana
DiedApril 22, 2015(2015-04-22) (aged 88)
Fremont, California
Alma materGallaudet University
California State University, East Bay
OccupationActress

Biography

A 1952 graduate of Gallaudet University,[1] she was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of the Deaf.[2] In 1974, she was the first deaf person to earn a Master's degree in Rhetoric and Public Relations from California State University, East Bay.

She performed one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems to music on the television series An Experiment in Television.[3] She also performed in episodes of Family Affair, The Man and the City, Mannix and The Streets of San Francisco.[4] In 1967, she was the first deaf actor to have a photograph featured in Time magazine.[5]

In 1978, she was the center of a controversy towards deaf actors and actresses. Norton auditioned to appear in an ABC Afterschool Special titled Mom and Dad Can't Hear Me, but was told by the casting director that she could not have the part because he would rather have people who can speak. Norton complained to the Screen Actors Guild, which arose protests by deaf people in the United States. After this incident, Norton never performed on television again.[4]

She was the lead actress for the Kodak TV commercial "Memories", which was directed by Stuart Hagmann. It won a Clio Award for Best Commercial of the Year (1974).

In 2012, Norton received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Gallaudet University.[1]

In 2015, Norton died in Fremont, California.[6]

References
  1. https://www.webcitation.org/67aS0StTW?url=http://www.gallaudet.edu/Commencement/Commencement_Speaker_and_Honorary_Degrees.html
  2. Tabak, John (2006). Significant gestures: a history of American Sign Language. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-275-98974-3. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  3. Padden, Carol; Tom L. Humphries (2006). Inside Deaf Culture. Harvard University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-674-02252-2. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  4. Schuchman, John S. (1999). Hollywood Speaks: Deafness and the Film Entertainment Industry. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06850-8. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
  5. W., Norton, Kenneth (2016-10-18). My life with Audree : a Deaf couple's sixty-eight years of life, love, and pursuing dreams. [San Francisco?]. ISBN 9780692764626. OCLC 964657782.
  6. "Audree Norton, Pioneering Deaf Actress, Dies at 88". The Hollywood Reporter. May 11, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2015.


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