Luise Rainer, First to Win Back-to-Back Acting Oscars, Dies at 104

Started by walkstall, December 30, 2014, 09:34:34 AM

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walkstall

A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

quiller

When it comes to entertainment entries, Wipedia isn't too bad. Their comment today rang true at two levels....

QuoteHer first American film role was in Escapade in 1935. The following year, she was given a supporting part in the musical biography, The Great Ziegfeld, where, despite limited appearances, her emotion-filled acting quality so impressed audiences that she was awarded an Oscar as Best Actress. She was later dubbed "the Viennese teardrop", for her dramatic telephone scene in the film.[5] For her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she would also be able to play the part of a poor uncomely Chinese farm wife in The Good Earth (1937), based on Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China. The subdued character role was such a dramatic contrast to her previous, vivacious character, that she was again given an Academy Award for Best Actress.[6]

Yet by winning two consecutive Oscars, she later noted, nothing worse could have happened to her, as audience expectations from then on would be too high to fulfill.[7] After a string of unimportant movie parts, MGM and Rainer became disappointed, leading her to end a 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,[8] 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".[9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luise_Rainer

Odets in fact was a financial and career jackass, and Thalberg one of the true legends in discovering great talent. (There's a Thalberg Award in his name.) When Thalberg died a lot of fledgling actors/actresses all saw their careers falter. After winning for The Good Earth, she also proved Thalberg right and Louis B. Mayer dead wrong.....