Norma Drury, a talented young pianist, met and fell in love with
theatrical director Richard Boleslavsky (Boleslawski) when both were
working on the New York stage play "Mr Moneypenny" in 1928-29.
Boleslavsky divorced his Russian wife of 12 years, Natalia (Shimkevich)
Boleslavsky, and married the younger pianist in 1929, after which the
newlyweds moved to Los Angeles where Boleslavsky began his career as a
film director.
Norma (Drury) Boleslavsky played piano on- or off-camera, and/or acted
dramatic roles, in appx. 13 films between 1932 and 1945 (e.g., "Stage
Door" in '37), mostly after her husband's early, sudden death in
January, 1937. Sometimes she was billed as Norma Boleslavsky, more
often as Norma Drury. She also made guest appearances on popular radio
programs of the 1930s and 1940s (Bergen-McCarthy, etc.). Norma and
Richard Boleslavsky had one child, a son Jan (Janek), who was born in
1935 and died very young in 1962.