Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer

Birth : 1910-01-12, Düsseldorf, Prussia, German Empire

Death : 2014-12-30

History

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

Profile

Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer

Movies

Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
(archive)
A history of anti-Asian racism and yellowface in Hollywood after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.
Luise Rainer: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
100-year-old Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer sits down with Robert Osborne at the 2010 TCM Classic Film Festival.
Hollywood Chinese
Self
Hollywood Chinese is a captivating look at cinema history through the lens of the Chinese American experience. Directed by triple Sundance award-winning filmmaker, Arthur Dong, this documentary is a voyage through a century of cinematic delights, intrigues and treasures. It weaves together a wondrous portrait of actors, directors, writers, and movie icons who have defined American feature films, from the silent era to the current new wave of Asian American cinema. At once entertaining and enlightening, Hollywood Chinese reveals long-untold stories behind the Asian faces that have graced the silver screen, and weaves a rich and complicated tapestry, one marked by unforgettable performances and groundbreaking films, but also by a tangled history of race and representation.
Ziegfeld on Film
Herself (interviewee, and in clips from The Great Ziegfeld)
This short documentary includes interviews with Florenz Ziegfeld's daughter Patricia and actress Luise Rainer. Ziegfeld's life and the making of the film The Great Ziegfeld (1936) are discussed.
Poem: I Set My Foot Upon the Air and It Carried Me
A series of poems.
The Gambler
Grandmother
Under pressure from his publisher, Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky gets work on his latest piece, 'Rouletenberg'. In the 27 days it takes for him to complete the novel reality and fiction become blurred; in this feverish atmosphere of excess Dostoyevsky's characters come to life as he struggles to complete his work.
Frank Capra's American Dream
A documentary looking at the life and career of film director Frank Capra. Hosted by Ron Howard.
That's Entertainment! III
(archive footage)
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
A Dancer
Anna
Part of the By Herself series of individual dramas created for Channel 4, A dancer explores the emotional moment when two former lovers, separated by their profession, meet again.
Hostages
Milada Pressinger
After the mysterious disappearance of a German soldier from a Prague cafe, the staff and customers are held captive by the Nazis accused of murder and collusion with the Czech resistance.
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Self (archive footage)
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
Dramatic School
Louise Mauban
Aspiring actress Louise Muban attends the prestigious Paris School of Drama during the day and works at a dreary factory assembling gas meters at night. She daydreams and "acts" her way through life, and her fellow students at school begin to suspect her stories are just that - fabrications. After Louise begins to weave an actual meeting with a debonair playboy into a fantasy of club dates and romance, her classmate Nana discovers the lie when she too meets the playboy. Nana sets a trap for Louise, and the result is an end to one fantasy and the realization of another.
The Great Waltz
Poldi Vogelhuber
Composer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.
The Toy Wife
Gilberte 'Frou Frou' Brigard
A Southern belle finds herself torn between two suitors.
Another Romance of Celluloid
Self (uncredited)
This second entry in MGM's "Romance of Film" series documents how celluloid movie film is processed and features behind-the-scenes glimpses of current MGM productions.
Big City
Anna Benton
Anna and Joe are newly married, playful and deeply in love. Joe is scraping by as cab driver in New York City during a period of corruption, mob control and violence between cab companies.
The Romance of Celluloid
Self
Several behind the scenes aspects of the movie-making business, which results in the enjoyment the movie going public has in going to the theater, are presented. They include: the production of celluloid aka film stock, the materials used in the production of which include cotton and silver; construction crews who build sets including those to look like cities, towns and villages around the world; a visit with Jack Dawn who demonstrates the process of creating a makeup design; the screen testing process, where many an acting hopeful gets his/her start; the work of the candid camera man, the prying eyes behind the movie camera; a visit with Adrian, who designs the clothes worn by many of the stars on screen; and a visit with Herbert Stothart as he conducts his musical score for Conquest (1937). These behind the scenes looks provide the opportunity to get acquainted with the cavalcade of MGM stars and their productions that will grace the silver screen in the 1937/38 movie season.
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Countess Olga Mironova
Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.
The Good Earth
O-Lan
China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.
The Great Ziegfeld
Anna Held
Lavish biography of Flo Ziegfeld, the producer who became Broadway's biggest starmaker.
Escapade
Leopoldine Dur
A romantic comedy-drama-musical of mistaken identity, infidelity and farce, set in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century.
Heut' kommt's drauf an
Marita Costa
A musical comedy centering around the competitors in the Golden Saxophone competition.
Madame has a visitor
Sehnsucht 202
Kitty
After a mix-up with a newspaper advertisement, a shop-girl and a millionairess are mistaken for one another by two businessmen. A musical romantic comedy.