Luise Rainer

German-American stage and film actress, the first thespian to win multiple Academy Awards, and the first to win back-to-back; at the time of her death, thirteen days shy of her 105th birthday, she was the longest-lived Oscar recipient (and the longest-lived female star from Classic Hollywood), a superlative that has not been exceeded, as of 2024.

In 1936 she was given a supporting part in the musical biography The Great Ziegfeld, where, despite limited appearances, her emotion-filled performance so impressed audiences that she was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was later dubbed the "Viennese teardrop" for her dramatic telephone scene in the film.

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, plain 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 again won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Her career rose and fell dramatically within a three year time period. Some blame her premature retirement on poor choice of roles by her studio, MGM and others on bad advice from her then husband, playwright Clifford Odets.

Rainer was married to Odets from 1937-1940 and a second marriage was to a publisher that she lived with in London.

She died shortly before her 105th birthday on 30 December 2014 in London from pneumonia.