Luise Rainer, one of the greatest of Hollywood actresses and the first performer to win back-to-back Oscars, has died at 104:
Luise Rainer, the luminous 1930s actress who won two consecutive Oscars but whose Hollywood film career was shattered when she went toe-to-toe with Louis B. Mayer, and lost, has died. She was 104.
Her movie career ended when she ran afoul of studio mogul Louis B. Mayer. She wanted better parts; he told her that he made her and he could break her. He was right.
Ms. Rainer’s screen performances are all subtle and full of heart-breaking emotion. A great. Why she didn’t play Madame Curie (for example), a role for which she was perfectly suited, instead of Greer Garson can only be explained by Mayer’s pettiness. I’m convinced that if she had taken a movie role in, say, 1990, she’d have won another Academy Award.
