Luise Rainer

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Luise Rainer (January 12, 1910 – December 30, 2014) was a German-American-British film actress.

She was the first female actress to win more than one Academy Award and, with that, the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, she was the youngest-lived Oscar nominee, a superlative that hasn't been equaled as of 2019.

With Reinhardt's Vienna theater company, she had become a well-known Berlin stage actress in a few years.

Critics lauded her performance.

She spent years on stage and in films in Austria and Germany, and she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talent scouts, who subsequently agreed to a three-year deal in Hollywood in 1935.

A number of filmmakers wished she would be MGM's top female actress at the time, Greta Garbo. In 1935, she appeared in Escapade for the first American film role.

She was given a role in the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld, in which, despite limited appearances, her emotion-filled appearance so impressed audiences that she was named Best Actress.

For her dramatic telephone scene in the film, she was later dubbed the "Viennese teardrop."

Despite the studio's insistence that she would play a poor, plain Chinese farm wife in The Good Earth (1937), based on Pearl Buck's book about poverty in China, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced that, despite the studio's inconsistence, she would also play a poor, plain Chinese farm wife.

The subpoena's role was such a stark contrast to her older vivacious character that she was rewarded the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Rainer is also the only one (other than Jodie Foster) to win two Oscars before the age of 30. However, she later said that nothing worse could have happened to her than winning two consecutive Oscars, as audience hopes from then on would be too high to be fulfilled.

MGM and Rainer became dissatisfied, causing her to suspend her short three-year film career and then returning to Europe.

Some people believe it was poor career advice she received from her then-husband, playwright Clifford Odets, and her producer, Irving Thalberg, who she adored, contributed to her rapid decline.

Some film historians regard her as the "most extreme case of an Oscar victim in Hollywood mythology."

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Early life and career

Rainer's mother, Heinrich and Emilie (née Königsberger) Rainer, was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, and later in Vienna, Austria. According to some, Vienna is her birthplace. "I was born in a world of chaos," she remembranced during her childhood. My childhood in Vienna was one of starvation, hunger, and revolution." Her father was a businessman who settled in Europe after spending the majority of his childhood in Texas, where he was sent as an orphanage at the age of six. (Rainer had claimed that she was an American citizen "by birth" because of her father's death. The Rainer's family was both wealthy and Jewish.

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Rainer had two brothers and was an early baby, having been born two months premature. Her father is described as "possible" and "tempestuous," but her affections and trepidation were centered on her. Luise remained "eternally absent-minded" and "very different" to him. She recalls her "tyrannical possessiveness" and was saddened to see her mother, "a brilliant pianist, a woman of warmth and intelligence, and deeply in love with her husband, who was deeply in love with her husband." Although she was largely shy at home, she was extremely active in school, becoming a champion runner and a fearless mountain climber. Rainer said she became an actress to help expend her physical and emotional energy. It was her father's wish, but it was not her father's that she attend a good finishing school and "marry the right one." Rainer's rebellious nature made her appear more than a "tomboy" and content to be alone. She also feared that she'd be developing what she described as her mother's "inferiority complex."

She was just six when she decided to join the circus world and remembered being inspired by a circus act:

Rainer, 16, decided to pursue her dream of becoming an actress under the guile of visiting her mother, she travelled to Düsseldorf for a prearranged audition at the Dumont Theater.

Louise Dumont, the 1920s, was divorced from her husband. Fita Benkhoff, Hanni Hoessrich, and Rainer were among the young actresses attached to Dumont, including Fita Benkhoff. Dumont was thought to be bisexual, according to rumors.

Rainer began training with Max Reinhardt in 1999 and, by the time she was 18, there was already a "army of critics" who felt she had a natural talent for a young actress. She was a prominent Berlin stage actress as a member of Reinhardt's Vienna theater company straight away. She appeared on stage at the Dumont Theater in 1928, followed by several appearances, including Jacques Deval's Mademoiselle, Kingsley's Men in White, George Bernard Shaw's Measure for Measure, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

She appeared in several German language films in 1934, and MGM talent hunter Phil Berg, who gave her a three-year contract in Hollywood, was seen performing in Six Characters in Search of an Author. Greta Garbo, a Swedish MGM actress, was hoping to appeal to the same audience as Greta Garbo. Rainer had no intention in films, saying in a 1935 interview, "I never wanted to film." I was only interested in the theater. I saw A Farewell to Arms and wanted to film right away. It was so stunning."

Hollywood career

In 1935, the rainer came to Hollywood as a young new star. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer and story editor Samuel Marx had seen a film version of Rainer before she arrived in Hollywood, and both thought she had the charisma, charm, and especially a "strong tender vulnerability" that Mayer admired in female actors, according to biographer Charles Higham. Mayer commissioned actress Constance Collier to learn English in correct speech and dramatic modulation, and Rainer's English improved rapidly.

Escapade (1935), a film co-starring William Powell, was her first film appearance in Hollywood. Myrna Loy left the role halfway through filming after being shot at Myrna Loy. Rainer walked out of the theater disappointed with her appearance: "I looked so big and full of face on the screen," Rainer said. Rainer, who was dubbed "Hollywood's next hit," received a lot of attention during the film. Nevertheless, she did not like giving interviews, which explains: "She did not like giving interviews."

In the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld, Rainer's next appearance was as the real-life character Anna Held, co-starring William Powell. Powell had been admired by Rainer's playing ability in Escapade.

Irving Thalberg, a producer for the studio, said that only Rainer, not one of the studio's actors, would perform the role as he saw it. Rainer said that she did not want her to participate in the role because it was too small: "You are a celebrity now and can't do it," he said. 13 In late 1935, there were doubts about Rainer's ability to play the part. She was chastised for failing to recall the Polish-born stage performer. Rainer's primary reason for being cast was her eyes, according to the actress, who said that "they're just as wide, lustrous, and have the same tantalizing quality of pseudo naughtiness" as the role.

Thalberg anticipated that she would have exhibited the "coquettishness, wide-eyed charm, and vulnerability" that was sorely needed. The rainer "wobbed audiences with one unforgettable scene," she wrote about in biographer Charles Affron that she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. In one scene, she's agitation is evident as she approaches her ex-husband Florenz Ziegfeld over the phone, trying to congratulate him on his new marriage: "The camera captures her agitation; when she rises, she dissolves into tears."

Powell, who has appeared in two films, shared his impressions of her acting style and quality: she has worked with her in two films.

Rainer stayed at home, not expecting to win at the Academy Award dinner. MGM public relations head Howard Strickling rode her home to collect her when Mayer found she had won. When she finally arrived, master of ceremonies George Jessel made the mistake of introducing Rainer, which Bette Davis had not planned to do. She was also named the New York Film Critics' Award for her role.

Rainer's next film, The Good Earth (1937), in which she co-starred with Paul Muni; she had been selected as the most likely candidate for the female lead in September 1935. The role, on the other hand, was completely opposite of Anna Held's portrayal, with her being required to play a humble Chinese peasant subordinate to her husband and speaking little during the entire film. After her hysterically chattering phone scene in The Great Ziegfeld, she was "a marveling tour de force," according to historian Andrew Sarris, who received her second Best Actress Award.

Katharine Hepburn's two wins in a row were the first actress to win two consecutive Oscars, an achievement not matched until Katharine Hepburn's two victories thirty years ago. Rainer, on the other hand, found that winning the two Oscars so early may have been the "worst thing" to come her career. "It's getting harder now to prove the Academy was right," she said.

Also before production, the rainer remembered early conflicts. For example, studio director Louis B. Mayer did not approve of the film or her participation in it, wanting to remain a glamorous film actress." "I myself, with the meager conversation that was given to me, feared to be a funny bore." "When Rainer heard Mayer's words to Thalberg, her producer, she's grandmother, she must be a dismal-looking slave and grow old; but Luise is a young child; what are you doing? "13 She rated the role as one of her "greatest accomplishments" in her career, including the refusal to "wear the rubber mask "Chinese look" as a result of the makeup department's decision. She was allowed to be "genuine, honest, and down-to-earth."

During manufacturing, other significant issues were also present. After returning to Hollywood, director George W. Hill, who had spent several months in China filming backgrounds and dramatic scenes, committed suicide shortly after returning to Hollywood. The filming was postponed until Sidney Franklin could take over. Irving Thalberg died unexpectedly at the age of 37 just a few months after the film was finished. "His death was a terrible shock to us," a rainer wrote years later. He was young and able. I think I would have stayed much longer in films if it wasn't that he died." "To the Memory of Irving Grant Thalberg, his last great achievement, we dedicate this film."

MGM created Maiden Voyage, specifically for Rainer, in late 1936. The initiative was shelved and eventually published as Bridal Suite in 1939, starring Annabella as 'Luise.' Adventure for Three, which would have co-starred William Powell, was another 1936 unrealized film project involving Rainer. Poldi, Johann Strauss' long-suffering wife, appeared in MGM's hit film The Great Waltz, her last big hit, in 1938.

Spencer Tracy, The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937), and Dramatic School (1938) were all poorly received, though Rainer continued to be lauded. Rainer and Powell reunited Rainer with Powell for the final time in October 1936. She wore a red wig and wore costumes created by Adrian, who said that Rainer would become one of Hollywood's most influential people in fashion by the end of 1937. On set, she was given star treatment, including her own dressing room, secretary, wardrobe woman, hairdresser, and makeup artist. Rainer's Candlesticks was her first film in which she received criticism, although it was stated that she did not advance in her acting skills.

Despite positive reviews of Rainer's presence in Big City, reviewers decided that she was miscast in a "modern role" and appeared "too exotic" as Tracy's wife. Rainer resigned for seven years shortly after the film's release despite criticism and warnings of her leaving Hollywood.

Rainer was "most appealing" in Toy Wife, according to the majority. Dramatic School was Rainer's last MGM film. The Independent Theatre Owners of America dubbed "Box Office Poison" at the time she was cast in the film, and she and her MGM colleagues, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, were among the many well-known actors — as well as MGM coworkers Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, and Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Fred Astaire, Kay Francis and others —the Independent Theatre Owners of America titled "Box Office Poison" at Message

Rainer refused to be stereotyped or to knuckle under the control of a studio system, and Mayer, the company's director, was unresponsive to her calls for formal roles. In addition, she started fighting for a higher salary, and was described as difficult and temperamental. As a result, she missed out on several roles, including the female lead in Edward G. Robinson's classic film The Last Gangster (1937), losing out to Rose Stradner, another Viennese actress. Rainer recalled, 'We made you and we're going to kill you.' During a Mayer decades ago, Rainer recalled, 'We're going to kill you.' Well, he did his best."

Rainer made her final film appearance for MGM in 1938 before deciding against filmmaking. In a 1983 interview, the actress explained how she came to Louis B. Mayer's office and said to him, "Mr Mayer, I must avoid making films." My source has depleted. "I work from the inside out, but there is nothing inside to offer." Following this altercation, she travelled to Europe, where she helped children who had been victims of the Spanish Civil War. Nevertheless, she was not fired from her job, and by 1940, she was still planning to produce one more film for the studio.

She dissatisfied with Hollywood, where she later said it was impossible to have an intellectual dialogue, she moved to New York City in 1940 to work with playwright Clifford Odets, whom she had married in 1937. Rainer had never denied that she felt sorry for Odets' wife, and said in a 1938 interview, "All the acting I've done on the stage or screen has been nothing compared to the playing I did in New York, when I tried to make everyone think I was happy." She applied for divorce in mid-1938, but the case was postponed "to next October" when Odets went to England. On May 14, 1940, the divorce was declared to be final. The rainer and Odets spent the summer of 1936 at Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut, where many other members of the Group Theatre (New York) spent the summer of 1936, both acting and writing.

Despite the negativity, Rainer was one of the actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara (1939), but the theory was not well received, and she was not given a screen test. She was also unable to convince MGM executives to cast her in Johnny Belinda, based on a 1940 film about a deaf-mute rape victim.

Rainer spoke about her exile from the film industry in a later interview:

Later life and career

Rainer studied medicine in Europe and said she preferred being accepted as "just another student" rather than as a film actress. She returned to the stage and appeared in Behold the Bride, Françoise Deval's production in Manchester on May 1st, 1939; she appeared in Jacques Deval's "Behold the Bride" on May 1st; she appeared in the Shaftesbury Theatre on May 23nd; she also appeared in Jacques Deval's "Behold the Bride." On March 10, 1940, she appeared in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan in Washington, D.C. under the direction of German immigrant director Erwin Piscator. Miss Thing, J. M. Barrie's A Kiss for Cinderella, was her first appearance on the New York stage in May 1942.

She appeared in Hostages in 1943 and then halted film making in 1944 after marrying publisher Robert Knittel. She did not intend to return to film at the time, but she outlined her comeback in 1943 by saying, 'I don't plan on returning to the screen.'

Rainer had long been out of work and she had no agent when she returned to Hollywood. Paramount Pictures' David Rose, the film director, offered her a leading role in an English film shot on location, but war conditions prevented her from accepting the role. Rather, Rose in 1942 suggested that she do a screen test for the lead role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), but Ingrid Bergman was cast. Rainer settled on a role in Hostages (1943) and told the world: "It's certainly not an Academy Award show, and thank goodness, my bosses didn't expect me to win an award with it." This is something unethical, but I hope it's a step forward in the right direction."

Rainer took her oath of allegiance to the United States in the 1940s, but she and Knittel lived in the United Kingdom and Switzerland for the majority of their marriage. In 1989, Robert Knittel was born in 1989. Francesca Knittel and Bacca Knittel-Bowyer, the couple's one daughter, was named Francesca Knittel-Bowyer, but she was still named Francesca Knittel-Bowyer. Luisa and Nicole, and two grandchildren, Luca and Hunter, were among the Rainer's two grandchildren.

Federico Fellini encouraged her to act as Dolores in his 1960 Oscar-winning film La Dolce Vita, to the point of her arriving in Rome, but she dropped out prior to shooting, owing either to her refusal to an unwanted sex scene or her insistence on directing her own dialogue. The actor was later removed from the eventual screenplay. Following her and her husband's relocation to Britain, she made occasional television and stage appearances, including in an episode of the World War II television series Combat! In 1965, a woman named Richard Kelly was born in London. In a 1984 episode of The Love Boat, she appeared in two different roles. For the second time, the crew erupted, giving her a standing ovation. She appeared in The Gambler (1997) in a small role, marking her film debut at the age of 86. She appeared at the 1998 and 2003 Academy Awards as part of special retrospective tributes to former Oscar winners.

Rainer's centennial in London on January 12th. Sir Ian McKellen, an actor, was one of her guests. During the month, she was at the British Film Institute in honor of her work at the National Film Theatre, where she was interviewed by Richard Stirling before the Good Earth and The Great Waltz screenings. She appeared onstage at the National Theatre, where she had been interviewed by Sir Christopher Frayling. In April 2010, she returned to Hollywood to perform The Good Earth at a TCM festival screening, followed by an interview with host Robert Osborne.

At 6300 Hollywood Boulevard, Rainer has a celebrity on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Rainer, a 102-year-old Rainer, travelled to Berlin on September 5th, 2011 to be crowned as a celebrity on the Boulevard der Stars. Her star was one of the 21 celebrities released in 2011, and the 20 that followed were issued in 2010 were among the 21 that were not born in 2011. The actor was chosen as an exception and was not without controversy. Rainer had been forgotten when the Boulevard der Stars opened in 2010, despite being Germany's youngest Academy Award-winning actress. Despite being nominated, she was first rejected by the jury in 2011 (Senta Berger, Gero Gandert, Uwe Kammann, Dieter Kosslick, and Hans Helmut Prinzler). In October 2010, Rainer's omission on the Boulevard led to a long campaign. Baylay ran in Germany, lobbying media and politicians to promote the cause of having the actress and her work acknowledged. The Central Council of Jews supported the drive. The Boulevard der Stars finally relented in August 2011, acknowledging that Baylay's Facebook, email, and letter campaign had influenced their decision to award an additional actor to Rainer.

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