Luise Rainer
Date of birth: 1910-01-12
Place of birth: Düsseldorf, Germany
Known for: Acting
Also known as:
Biography
Luise Rainer (/ˈraɪnər/; January 12, 1910 – December 30, 2014) was a German-American film actress. She was the first actor to win more than one Academy Award; at the time of her death she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient. Her training began in Germany from the age of 16 by leading stage director Max Reinhardt. After a few years, she became recognized as a "distinguished Berlin stage actress", acting with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble. Critics "raved" about her stage and film acting quality, leading MGM to sign her to a three-year contract and bring her to Hollywood in 1935. A number of filmmakers anticipated she might become another Greta Garbo, MGM's leading female star. Her first American role was in the film Escapade (1935), which was soon followed with a relatively small part in the musical biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Despite her limited appearances in the film, she "so impressed audiences" that she won the Oscar for Best Actress. For her dramatic telephone scene in the film, she was later dubbed "the Viennese teardrop". In her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she could play the part of a poor uncomely Chinese farm wife in The Good Earth, based on Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China. The subdued character she played was such a dramatic contrast to her previous, vivacious character, that she won another Academy Award, even with Greta Garbo as one of the nominees. However, she would later remark that by winning two consecutive Oscars, "nothing worse could have happened to me," as audience expectations from then on would be too high to fulfill. She was then given parts in a string of unimportant movies, leading MGM and Rainer to become disappointed, and she ended her brief three-year career in films, soon returning to Europe. Adding to her rapid decline, some feel, was the "poor career advice" given her by then husband, playwright Clifford Odets, along with the unexpected death, at age 37, of her producer, Irving Thalberg, whom she greatly admired. Some film historians consider her the "most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology". She currently lives in London. Description above from the Wikipedia article Luise Rainer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Movie Credits
The Good Earth
1937-06-02
China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer
The Great Ziegfeld
1936-04-08
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, sideshow barker Florenz Ziegfeld turns the tables on his more-succ
The Great Waltz
1938-11-04
Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.
Big City
1937-09-03
Anna and Joe are newly married, playful and deeply in love. Joe is scraping by as cab driver in New
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937-07-02
Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.
The Toy Wife
1938-06-10
A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Escapade
1935-07-05
A romantic comedy-drama-musical of mistaken identity, infidelity and farce, set in Vienna at the tur
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
2019-10-13
A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
The Gambler
1997-10-30
Under pressure from his publisher, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky gets work on his latest piece
Dramatic School
1938-12-09
Aspiring actress Louise Muban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works
Madame has a visitor
1932-09-30
Heut' kommt's drauf an
1933-03-17
A musical comedy centering around the competitors in the Golden Saxophone competition.
Hostages
1943-08-11
After the mysterious disappearance of a German soldier from a Prague cafe, the staff and customers a
Sehnsucht 202
1932-09-08
After a mix-up with a newspaper advertisement, a shop-girl and a millionairess are mistaken for one
A Dancer
1991-08-11
Part of the By Herself series of individual dramas created for Channel 4, A dancer explores the emot
Ziegfeld on Film
2004-11-07
This short documentary includes interviews with Florenz Ziegfeld's daughter Patricia and actress Lui
Poem: I Set My Foot Upon the Air and It Carried Me
2003-05-07
A series of poems.
Hollywood Chinese
2007-03-18
Hollywood Chinese is a captivating look at cinema history through the lens of the Chinese American e
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940-07-31
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirl
That's Entertainment! III
1994-07-01
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929
The Romance of Celluloid
1937-08-27
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the m
Another Romance of Celluloid
1938-02-05
This second entry in MGM's "Romance of Film" series documents how celluloid movie film is processed
Frank Capra's American Dream
1997-01-01
A documentary looking at the life and career of film director Frank Capra. Hosted by Ron Howard.
Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
2011-01-12
100-year-old Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer sits down with Robert Osborne at the 2010 TCM Classi
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
1987-05-18
A TV special on the 100th anniversary of the birth of film.