Miss Rainer in 1932 Miss Rainer at the Awards Ceremony in 1998

Born in Dusseldorf, Germany. On Austrian and German stages from childhood, she trained with Max Reinhardt and appeared in several minor Austro-German films before arriving in Hollywood in the mid-30s, heralded as another Garbo. Here she established a dramatic rise-and-fall record, becoming the first actor or actress to win two successive Academy Awards -- for moving, weepy roles in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) and THE GOOD EARTH (1937) -- and seeing her career evaporate, all within three years. The blame for her premature retirement is placed by some on a poor choice of roles by her studio, MGM, and by others on bad advice from her husband at the time, Clifford Odets (married 1937; divorced 1940). When she walked out on her MGM contract in 1938, she reportedly told studio head Louis B. Mayer: "You are now 60 and I am 20. When I am 40, the age of a successful actress, you will be dead and I will live." She was married to her second husband Robert Mattel, a publisher, from 1945 until his death. She lives in London and returned to Hollywood as a guest of the Academy for the Oscar® winner tributes on the 70th and 75th anniversary Awards telecasts (1998 and 2003, respectively).  Actress 1936: THE GREAT ZIEGFELD  Actress 1937: THE GOOD EARTH 2 nominations, 2 Awards