Luise Rainer - Live From the TCM Classic Film Festival

If Luise Rainer wasn't the oldest living Oscar winner (she turned 103 in January), she would still be remarkable. The Dusseldorf-born starlet made several films in Germany before fleeing the ominous political climate in 1933. After arriving in Hollywood it didn't take long for her poised, Old World acting style to garner attention that included two back-to-back Oscar wins -- one for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and one for the part she's most known for, the long-suffering Chinese peasant O-Lan in The Good Earth (1937). Even though the making of The Good Earth was flawed by the racism of its time (due to antimiscegnation laws, Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong was snubbed for the role of O-Lan), Rainer still brought dignity and pathos to a mostly wordless role. When Louis B. Mayer scoffed at Rainer's request for time off, warning that he "made" her, she famously retorted with a rejoinder that must be heard to be believed. In 2010 Rainer made a rare public appearance at the TCM Classic Film Festival. This conversation between Rainer and Robert Osborne is a rare look at the life and times of one of the most unique Hollywood talents of the last century.

By Violet LeVoit