BBC announced the German born actress died Tuesday of pneumonia, the actress who blessed the cinema screens during the era of Hollywood better known as 'The Golden Age' winning best actress in 1936 and 1937.Only five actors have achieved this feat with Spencer Tracy,Katherine Hepburn, Jason Robards and more recently Tom Hanks been the other members of that special club of winners.
Rainer married playwright Clifford Oates in 1937 until 1940 then several years later to publicist Robert Knittel whom she stayed married until his death in 1989. The pair had a daughter Roberta who said quoted about her mother "She was bigger than life and can charm the birds out of the trees...If you saw her, you'd never forget her."
Once hailed as the next Greta Garbo, Rainer was known to quit La Dolce Vita after waiting too long for Federico Fellini to call her to her scene. She was first spotted by MGM in 1935 with her winning a first Oscar one year later starring in The Great Ziegfeld which included a legendary scene when she congratulated her onscreen husband with tears running down her face. One year later she wins again in The Good Earth playing a Chinese Peasant.
Whilst some actors see wining even one oscar as the pinnacle of their career, launching careers it was seen by Rainer as in her words "nothing worse could have happened to me,throw me into anything". After clashing with the studios, in 1943 she made her last film Hostages. It was seen as if it opened a new can of worms giving the studios the right to give Rainer any role.
Her career became very sporadic with a few stage appearance with a number of Television roes including The Love Boat. In 1987 her Hiatus from the feature film came to an end when she appeared The Gambler directed by Karoly Makk. Despite loosing out to Ingrid Bergman , "She was bigger than life and could charm the birds out of the trees,If you saw her, you'd never forget her.''
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