Luise Rainer -- Tiny Person, Bigger Than Life -- A Tribute

My wife’s grandmother -- back-to-back Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Luise Rainer -- died yesterday at her home in London.  She was nearly 105 (I wrote a brief post about her 5 years ago as she reached her 100 year milestone).

Luise, who had become a diminutive “bird” in physical size in her latter days, exhibited a larger-than-life personality that was absolutely the opposite.  It was gargantuan.  She was friends with the likes of Albert Einstein and all the Hollywood “greats” of the 1930’s.  She also essentially killed her Hollywood career when she told Louis B. Mayer to “take a hike” (those are watered down words, my friends ....) when she broke her contract at MGM.

Vanity Fair -- in a feature story several years ago -- called Luise “The Last Hollywood Diva,” which sums her up quite nicely.

Luise was a pistol ’til the end.  A character who gave new meaning to the word “character.”  My mother-in-law, Francesca Knittel Bowyer, is quoted by the BBC as saying that Luise could “charm the birds out of the trees.”  So true.

We had thought Luise (“Omy” to us) would out-live us all.  But, alas, she too -- as strong as she was (which was Atlas strong) -- succumbed to mortality.

She was extremely loved by her family -- her daughter Francesca, my wife Luisa, our children and so many others.  And, she loved them deeply ... more than they may ever know.