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Key dates in the life and career of Luise Rainer are given here in chronological order. Where possible specific dates are given, although where exact dates are not known I have added information within each year range. For events that took place over a period of time, for example a run of theatre performances, only the first date and last dates are given with a '>' signifying the period of time.
1910s
1910 Born in Dusseldorf, Germany (12th January)
1920s
1926 Theatre debut at the Dumont Theatre, Dusseldorf
1930s
Acting in plays with Max Reinhardt's touring company in Berlin and Vienna
1930 Plays 'Anitra' in Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Dusseldorf
In Berlin, Luise witnesses the burning of the Reichstag building (27th February)
1934 Plays 'Roberta' in Dreiser's An American Tragedy. Spotted by an MGM talent scout and offered a contract
Signs five-year contract with MGM
1935 Leaves Le Havre on the ship Ile de France for New York and MGM (9th January)
Release of Escapade, her first English language film (6th July)
 1937 Joins the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League protests against Vittorio Mussolini's visit Wins the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Actress in The Great Ziegfeld (4th January)
Marries Clifford Odets at their home in Brentwood Heights (8th January)
Takes part in a Flood Relief Benefit show at Radio City Music Hall, New York (11th February)
Release of Big City (3rd September)
Addresses 22,000 people at Madison Square Garden, New York upon the occasion of the Japanese invasion of China (1st October)
1938 Pregnant with Odets' child, has an abortion
Awarded her second Oscar for Best Actress for The Good Earth (10th March)
Announces that she has filed for divorce from Clifford Odets (10th June
Takes her American citizenship examination in Los Angeles (July 25th)
Becomes a US citizen, sworn in by Judge Jeremiah Neter (19th November) (pictured)
 1939 Dissolution of contract with MGM Separation from Clifford Odets
Opens at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, UK in Jacques Deval's play Behold the Bride (1st May)
1940s
1940 Performs as Shaw's Saint Joan at the Civic Theater, Washington D.C., directed by Erwin Piscator (March 10th)
Divorce with Clifford Odets finalised (4th May)
Attends luncheon, Biltmore Hotel in support of the Roosevelt / Wallace presidential campaign (15th October)
1941 Campaigns for Bertolt Brecht to leave Europe for the US
Tour of the 'straw hat' circuit in the US with J.M. Barrie's A Kiss for Cinderella
1942 Broadway debut, The Music Box Theatre, New York, J.M. Barrie's A Kiss for Cinderella (10th March >18th April)
1943 Premiere of Hostages, her final American film (12th August)
1945 Marries publisher Robert Knittel (12th July) (pictured, right)
1946 Birth of daughter, Francesca (2nd June)
1947 Summer theatre tour of the USA in the title role of Maxwell Anderson's Joan of Lorraine
The Great Waltz re-issued in cinemas in the USA (25th July)
1948 Appears as the title character in another prodution of Joan of Lorraine at the Montclair Theatre, NJ (30th August > 4th September)
1949 Sits for painter Dimitri Berea whose portrait of Luise is captured on the cover of France Illustration magazine
Television debut in The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre episode Trapeze (24th January)
Plays Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull at the Brattle Theater, Massachusetts (October)
Makes UK television debut in By Candlelight (27th November)
1950s
1950 US tour of the 'straw hat' circuit in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea
The Seagull broadcast on BBC Television, with Luise as 'Nina' (5th March)
Opens at the Fulton Theatre, New York in Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea (7th August > 19th August)
US television broadcast of Lux Video Theatre episode Rosalind (9th October)
1951 Returns to Hollywood for another stage version of Joan of Lorraine (20th February)
US television broadcast of Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre episode Woman Overboard (19th May)
1952 US television broadcast of Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars episode Love Come Late (23rd May)
US tour in the play Biography by S. N. Behrman which she also directed (June to August)
Guest at the opening of Italian Film Week, New York and the US premiere of Lattuada's Il capotto (7th October)
1953 Returns to the Academy Awards to present the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film (19th March)
1954 Television broadcast of US series Suspense episode Torment (30th March)
Guest at the film premiere for Ugetsu in New York, with her husband, and composer Irving Berlin (6th September)
Attends the funeral of Gertude Lawrence in New York (September)
1958 Appears at the Eleanora Duse Centenary celebration in Rome. Recites an extract from Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Federico Fellini offers her a part in his film La dolce vita
1960s
1965 US television broadcast of Combat! episode Finest Hour (21st December)
1970s
1978 Exhibition of paintings at the Patrick Seale Gallery, London
Interviewed by Mavis Nicholson for Thames Television's After Noon programme (15th June)
1980s
1980 The Good Earth screens at the National Film Theatre, London as part of their MGM Directors season (25th April)
1981 US tour of one woman show, a dramatisation of Tennyson's Enoch Arden, music by Richard Strauss (from September 30th)
Takes part in tribute to American lawyer Arnold Weissberger at the Golden Theatre, New York, with Orson Welles and Martha Graham
1983 Co-presenter (with Jack Valenti) of Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards ceremony (11th April)
1984 Appears on US television in The Love Boat, playing twin sisters (3rd March)
1985 Awarded the Grand Cross 1st Class, Order of Merit by the German government
1988 Works with Doris Totten Chase on A Dancer, a short film and part of a series, By Herself, studying old age
1989 Death of her husband, Robert Knittel (15th June)
1990s
1997 UK premiere of The Gambler, her first theatrical feature film in 54 years (30th October)
1998 Attends Academy Awards for a retrospective of Oscar winners to celebrate their 70th anniversary (23rd March)
1999 Appears at National Theatre, London to discuss Waiting for Lefty, voted one of the plays of the century (4th March)
2000s
2001 Rare screening of Big City at the Donostia-San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain. Part of a Frank Borzage retrospective (September)
2003 Attends the Academy Awards in LA for another retrospective for the 75th anniversary of the awards (24th March)
Release of the German film Poem. Her first German speaking film role in 70 years (8th May)
2004 Attends the Verbier Music Festival, Switzerland (July)
2007 Interviewed by director Arthur Dong for the documentary Hollywood Chinese
2008 Guest at the launch of Elaine Paige's autobiography, Memories, at the National Theatre, London (23rd September)
Luise Rainer's 100th birthday (12th January)
Double screening of The Good Earth and The Great Waltz at the BFI Southbank, London, including interview and Q&A (17th January)
Luise appears at the National Theatre, London to discuss her life and career with Sir Christopher Frayling (1st February)
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist for AnOther Magazine (Spring)
Luise appears at the Egyptian Theater, Hollywood for an interview with Robert Osborne and a screening of The Good Earth. Part of the TCM Classic Film Festival. (25th April)
Warner Archive release the Signature Collection DVD: The Toy Wife, The Emperor's Candlesticks and Big City on DVD for the very first time (November)
2011 On her 101st birthday Turner Classic Movies US broadcasts their festival interview from 2010 (12th January)
Attends opening night of a new production of Clifford Odets' Rocket to the Moon at the National Theatre in London (30th March)
Honoured with a star on Berlin's Boulevard des Stars (5th September)
2012 Celebrates her 102nd birthday a home in London (12th January)
New interview for Entertainment Weekly magazine (January) | 
Chronology