Actress Luise Rainer dies aged 104

Oscar-winning actress Luise Rainer has died, aged 104. German-born star passed away at her home in London on Tuesday (30Dec14) after a battle with pneumonia.
Her daughter Francesca Knittel-Bowyer tells the Associated Press, “She was bigger than life and can charm the birds out of the trees… If you saw her, you’d never forget her.”
Rainer, who was one of the leading ladies of Hollywood in the 1930s, was the first star to win two Academy Awards in consecutive years and the feat has only been repeated by four actors since.
She starred in a number of German and Austrian films before she was spotted by a talent scout for studio Metro-Goldywn-Mayer (MGM) in the 1930s. She signed a seven-year contract with the company and landed her first Hollywood role in Escapade in 1935.
She is most famous for The Great Ziegfeld, which earned her a Best Actress Academy Award in 1937. She made history when she won the prize again the following year (38) for The Good Earth.
Rainer’s career declined after her Academy Awards double and after starring in less successful films, such as The Toy Wife and The Great Waltz, she broke her contract with MGM and returned to Europe.
She spent most of her later life living in London away from the showbiz spotlight. She enjoyed rare guest roles in several TV series and her last film credit was in drama The Gambler in 1997.