RIP, Luise Rainer, two-time Oscar-winner, age 104

A golden-era legend has passed. RIP, dear Luise Rainer, the oldest living Oscar-winner, the first to win back-to-back awards as Best Actress in "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) and "The Good Earth" (1937). She was 104 years old.


BBC link

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Oh, 2014 - you just had to snatch one more legend.

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I LOVE what she said to him. God, that took guts.

Something like, "In a few years, you'll be dead, Mr. Mayer, and that's when I will truly begin to live."

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Updated On: 12/30/14 at 09:52 AM

I was really sad to read about her death this morning. I remember reading THE GOOD EARTH in sixth grade and working desperately to find a copy of the film. I was definitely not disappointed. Luise Rainer was a vision, and I could not have imagined a better O-Lan. Like best said, we've got to look at the film as a product of its time, accepting that she shouldn't have played the part, but admitting that her performance was divine.
She will be missed.

I think she looks A LOT like Meryl Streep in both her Oscar-winning performances. I saw both of her Oscar-winning performances THE GREAT ZIEGFELD for the first time this past year (early 2014), and was so floored by what I saw. She has this one scene where she is in her dressing room, I can't remember the context, but she is so funny! Then she has that phone call scene where she's simply heartbreaking. The movie suffers a lot when she's not on it. I could have watched her go for ages.

Besty, when I watched THE GOOD EARTH a few months ago on TCM, I was too put off by the concept, I guess being presentist, and was somewhat offended by what I saw as a pretty stereotypical representation of Eastern Asian femininity. I should give it a try again with a more open mind. I gotta check out the documentary too.

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Luise Rainer was a vision, and I could not have imagined a better O-Lan.

I can. Anna May Wong. She was considered for the part and would have been dynamite.

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I think Paul Muni's portrayal borders a little to close to sterotypical, but Rainer's rings true with much more dignity and truth. Well, as close as "whitey" can get playing an Asian.

She doesn't seem to "play Asian" so much as play the character. That's why it works so well for me. Paul Muni is playing Asian (and the character). Muni was a fine actor, but the conventions of the day not only dictated that a white film star play this role (at a major studio like MGM), but also how that role would/should be played.

Rainer didn't follow that convention anywhere near as much, which contributed to her Oscar win, IMO.

I love her in The Great Ziegfeld, too, but by today's standards, it's a supporting role not leading. That was the very first year (1936) the supporting categories were ever recognized, but Rainer was in (and won) Leading Actress. She's not even in the last 90 minutes of the 3-hour film.

Also, I think her performance is an acquired taste, because she's so flighty and melodramatic and hilarious and eccentric that you can't imagine Academy voters taking it seriously. Then she has her "goodbye, Flo" conversation with Ziegfeld on the phone, and she drops all of that schtick. It's such a sweet, understated, heartbreaking scene. That's why she won, no question.

I probably would have voted for Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey that year, but I digress ...

I do think Luise won very deservedly for The Good Earth, however.

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WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! I've never seen THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. That scene absolutely gutted me. Anyone who has ever been in love and has had their heart broken could relate to that scene and what her character was going through. She played it so beautifully.

She lived quite a long time alright, and I think she's laughing at Louis B. Mayer right about now in heaven while he's in purgatory someplace.

Updated On: 1/2/15 at 12:26 PM