Luise Rainer
Luise Rainer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1928–1997 |
| Spouse(s) | Clifford Odets (1937-1940) Robert Knittel (1945-1989) |
Luise Rainer (born January 12, 1910)[2] is an Austrian film actress, the first woman to win two Academy Awards, and the first person to win them back to back. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts while acting on stage in Austria and Germany and after appearing in Austrian films.[3]
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" at her stage and film acting quality, leading MGM to sign her to a three-year contract and bring her to Hollywood in 1935 onboard the Ile De France. 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".[4] 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 peasant 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.[5]
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 became disappointed, and she ended her brief 3-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,[1] 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".[6] She currently lives in London.
Early life and career
The daughter of Heinz Rainer and Emmy (née Koenigsberger), Luise was born and raised in Vienna, Austria.[1] She once told a reporter: "I was born into a world of destruction. The Vienna of my childhood was one of starvation, poverty and revolution."[7] Her father was a businessman who settled in Europe after spending most of his childhood in America, where he was sent at the age of 6 as an orphan. Her mother came from an upper-class German-Jewish family.[8]: 402
Biographer Margaret Brenman-Gibson writes that Luise was a premature baby, born two months early. She also had two brothers. Rainer describes her father as being "possessive" and "tempestuous," but whose affections and concern centered on her. Luise seemed to him as "eternally absent-minded" and "very different." Rainer remembers his "tyrannical possessiveness," and was saddened to see her mother, "a beautiful pianist, and a woman of warmth and intelligence and deeply in love with her husband, suffering similarly".[8]
Although generally shy at home, she was "immensely athletic" in school, becoming a champion runner and an "intrepid" mountain-climber, notes Brenman-Gibson.[8] In addition to expending her energy in athletics, Rainer stated, "I became an actress only because I had quickly to find some vent for the emotion that inside of me went around and around, never stopping." It was her father's wish that she attend a good finishing school and "marry the right man," she remembers. However, her "rebellious" nature made her appear to be more a "tomboy," while at the same time, "happy to be alone", she feared she was "developing her mother's inferiority complex".[8]
She began studying acting with Max Reinhardt, and by the time she was 16, there was already an "army of critics" who felt that she had "unusual" talent for a young actress.[8] She became a "distinguished Berlin stage actress" acting with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble.[1][9] She made her first appearance on the stage at the Dumont Theater in Düsseldorf in 1928, followed by appearances at various theaters in Jacques Deval's play Mademoiselle, Kingsley's Men in White, George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, Measure for Measure, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.[2]
She later appeared in several German language films before being discovered in 1935 by MGM talent scout Phil Berg, who felt that she might appeal to the same audience as Greta Garbo, then one of their most successful performers.[10]
Hollywood and after
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
After doing a few films in Austria, in which "critics raved," she was offered a 3-year contract with MGM and came to Hollywood in 1935 as a hopeful new star.[3] According to biographer Charles Higham, both MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer and story editor Samuel Marx had seen footage of Rainer before she came to Hollywood, and both felt she had the looks, charm, and especially a "certain tender vulnerability" that Mayer admired in female stars.[11]: 240 Because of her weak command of English, Mayer assigned actress Constance Collier to train her in correct speech and dramatic modulation, and Rainer's speaking skills improved rapidly.[11] Her first film role in Hollywood was in Escapade, which was a remake of one of her Austrian films.[12] She received the part after Myrna Loy gave up the role.[9]
She was next cast to play the real-life character Anna Held, a small part in the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld. Higham notes that the film's producer, Irving Thalberg, decided that "only she could play" the part. However, Rainer states that Mayer "did not want me to do the film, and said 'Anna Held is out of it before the film is halfway through. You are a star now and can't do it!'"[7]: 13 As Thalberg expected, she nonetheless succeeded in acting the role which required "coquettishness, wide-eyed charm, and vulnerability."[11] Despite her limited appearances in the film, biographer Charles Affron writes that Rainer "so impressed audiences with one highly emotional scene" that she won an Academy Award for Best Actress.[1] In the scene, her character as Anna Held is speaking to her ex-husband Florenz Ziegfeld over the telephone, attempting to congratulate him on his new marriage: "The camera records her agitation; Ziegfeld hears a voice that hovers between false gaiety and despair; when she hangs up she dissolves into tears."[1]
On the evening of the Academy Award ceremonies, Rainer remained at home, not expecting to win any award. When Mayer then learned she won the award, he sent MGM publicity head Howard Strickling racing to her home to get her. When she finally arrived, master of ceremonies George Jessel, during the commotion, made the mistake of introducing Rainer, which Bette Davis had been scheduled to do.[11] She was also awarded the New York Film Critics' Award for the role.
The Good Earth (1937)
Her next film was The Good Earth (1937), where she co-starred with Paul Muni. The role was completely opposite her Anna Held character, where she now portrayed a humble Chinese peasant. For the part, she acted utterly subservient to her husband, perpetually huddled in submission, and barely spoke a word of dialogue during the entire film. The extreme contrast in the role with her last one partly contributed to her winning another Oscar for Best Actress. She became the first actress to win two consecutive Oscars, a feat not matched until Katharine Hepburn's two Oscar wins thirty years later.[1] Film historian Andrew Sarris states that her "comparative muteness was reckoned as an astounding tour de force after her hysterically chattering telephone scene in The Great Ziegfeld".[13]
Rainer later recalled that studio head Louis B. Mayer did not approve of the film being produced or her part in it: "He was horrified at Irving Thalberg's insistence for me to play O-lan, the poor uncomely little Chinese peasant. I myself, with the meager dialogue given to me, feared to be a hilarious bore."[14]: 142 Rainer remembers Mayer's comments to Thalberg: "She has to be a dismal-looking slave and grow old; but Luise is a young girl; we just have made her glamorous — what are you doing?"[7]: 13 She considers the part as one of the "greatest achievements" in her career, stating that she was allowed to express "realism," even refusing to "wear the rubber mask Chinese look suggested by the make-up department", allowing her to act "genuine, honest, and down-to-earth".[14]
There were a number of serious problems during production, however. George W. Hill, a leading director at the time, was chosen to direct the film, and spent several months in China filming backgrounds and atmospheric scenes of farmlands around the Great Wall and in Peking. Soon after he returned, Hill committed suicide and the film was postponed until Sidney Franklin took over directing.[12]
Then, before the film was completed, the film's producer, Irving Thalberg, died suddenly at the age of 37. He was Louis B. Mayer's "right hand". Rainer commented years later, "His dying was a terrible shock to us. He was young and ever so able. Had it not been that he died, I think I may have stayed much longer in films."[14] The film opened four months after his death, and with opening credits, the film was dedicated, To the memory of Irving Grant Thalberg — His last great achievement.[14] It is today considered one of Thalberg's "most honored films".[5]
Rainer described winning the two Oscars as the "worst possible thing" to befall her career.[15] The critic James Agate admired Rainer's performance in The Good Earth and described it as "an exquisite rendering", however she was criticised in reviews by Picturegoer. Max Breen was among those critics indignant that Greta Garbo's performance in Camille had been overlooked in favor of Rainer.[10]
Other films
In 1938, she played Johann Strauss's long-suffering wife Poldi in the successful MGM musical biopic The Great Waltz, her last hit.
She made four other films for MGM, The Emperor's Candlesticks, Big City with Spencer Tracy, Frou Frou and Dramatic School, but all were ill-advised and not well received. She refused to be stereotyped or to knuckle under to the studio system and studio head Mayer was unsympathetic to her demands for serious roles. Furthermore, she began to fight for a higher salary and she was reported as being difficult and temperamental.[10] Speaking of Mayer decades later, Rainer recalled, "He said, 'We made you and we are going to destroy you.' Well, he tried his best."[16]
Disenchanted with Hollywood, where she later said it was impossible to have an intellectual conversation,[16] she moved to New York City to live with her husband, playwright Clifford Odets, whom she had married in 1937. MGM released Rainer from her contract, and Rainer and Odets were divorced three years later. Despite the negativity, Rainer was one of the actresses considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939) but the idea was not well received and she was not given a screen test for the role.
Rainer made her first appearance on the English stage at the Palace Theatre, Manchester on May 1, 1939 as Françoise in Jacques Deval's play Behold the Bride and her first London appearance at the Shaftesbury Theatre on May 23, 1939 in the same part. Returning to America she made her first appearance on the New York stage at the Music Box Theatre in May 1942 as Miss Thing in James M. Barrie's A Kiss for Cinderella.[2] When Odets saw Robert Ryan appearing with Rainer in an earlier stock production of A Kiss for Cinderella, he cast the actor in his 1941 Broadway production of Clash by Night.
In World War II, she signed a visa affidavit to get Berthold Brecht out of Nazi Germany because she "loved his poetry". In return, he wrote the role of Grusha Vashnadze in his 1944 play The Caucasian Chalk Circle for Rainer. However they had a disagreement and she never played it. [citation needed]
She made one more film appearance in Hostages in 1943 and abandoned film making in 1944 after marrying publisher Robert Knittel. She had become an American citizen in the 1940s, but they had lived in the UK for most of their marriage. He died in 1989.[16] They had one daughter, Francesca Knittel, now known as Francesca Knittel-Bowyer. Rainer lives in Belgrave Square, London, in an apartment in the same building once inhabited by fellow two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh. [citation needed]
Federico Fellini enticed her to play the cameo role of the writer Dolores in his 1960 Oscar-winning classic La Dolce Vita, to the point of traveling to the Rome location. She quit the production prior to shooting, either due to an unwanted sex scene, or Rainer's insistence on overseeing her own dialogue.[16] The role was cut from the eventual screenplay. [citation needed]
Rainer made sporadic television and stage appearances following her and her husband's move to Britain, appearing in an episode of the World War II television series Combat! in 1965. She took a dual role in a 1983 episode of The Love Boat. She appeared in The Gambler (1997) in a small role, marking her film comeback at the age of 86.[16] She made appearances at the 1998 and 2003 Academy Awards ceremonies as part of special retrospective tributes to past Oscar winners.
On 12 January 2010, she celebrated her centenary in London.[17] Actor Sir Ian McKellen was one of her guests.
She is currently the oldest living Academy Award winner.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6300 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Yearning 202 | Kitty | |
| Madame hat Besuch | |||
| 1933 | Heut' kommt's drauf an | Marita Costa | |
| 1935 | Escapade | Leopoldine Dur | |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Anna Held | Academy Award for Best Actress |
| 1937 | The Good Earth | O-Lan | Academy Award for Best Actress |
| The Emperor's Candlesticks | Countess Olga Mironova | ||
| Big City | Anna Benton | ||
| 1938 | The Toy Wife | Gilberte 'Frou Frou' Brigard | |
| The Great Waltz | Poldi Vogelhuber | ||
| Dramatic School | Louise Mauban | ||
| 1943 | Hostages | Milada Pressinger | |
| 1997 | The Gambler | Grandmother |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Affron, Charles, and Edelman, Rob. International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, St. James Press (1997) pp. 997-999
- ^ a b c Parker, John (1947) Who's Who in the Theatre, 10th revised ed. London: Pitmans; p. 1176
- ^ a b Monush, Barry. Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors, Hal Leonard Corp. (2003) p. 618
- ^ "Hilary Swank: The Sequel", Los Angeles Magazine, January, 2002 p. 89
- ^ a b Vieira, Mark A. Hollywood Dreams Made Real, Abrams (2008) p. 218
- ^ Lefy, Emanuel. All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards, Continuum International Publ. (2003) p. 314
- ^ a b c Osborne, Robert A. Academy Awards Illustrated: A Complete History of Hollywood's Academy Awards, ESE California (1969) p. 71
- ^ a b c d e Brenman-Gibson, Margaret. Clifford Odets, Applause Books (2002)
- ^ a b Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Alfred A. Knopf (2002) p. 708
- ^ a b c Shipman, David (1970)The Great Movie Stars, The Golden Years. New York: Bonanza Books LCCN 78-133803; pp. 450-451
- ^ a b c d Higham, Charles. Merchant of Dreams: Louis B. Mayer, M.G.M., and the Secret Hollywood, Donald I. Fine, Inc. (1993)
- ^ a b Worsley, Sue Dwiggins, and Ziarko, Charles. From Oz to E.T.: Wally Worsley's Half-century in Hollywood, Scarecrow Press (1997) p. 16
- ^ Sarris, Andrew. You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: The American Talking Film History and Memory, 1927-1949, Oxford Univ. Press (1998) p. 388
- ^ a b c d Verswijver, Leo. Movies Were Always Magical, McFarland Publ. (2003)
- ^ Morgan, Kim.Curse of the Oscar. Special to MSN Movies (retrieved November 2007)
- ^ a b c d e Brown, Mike (22 October 2009). "Actress Luise Rainer on the glamour and grit of Hollywood's golden era". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
- ^ Walker, Tim (11 January 2010). "Actress Luise Rainer celebrates centenary". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
External links
- Please use a more specific IMDb template. See the documentation for available templates.
- Photographs of Luise Rainer
- Luise Rainer at the CinéArtistes (in French)
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