 If the movies were king in the 1930s and 1940s, the next few decades belonged to the reign of television. Television's boom years were the 1950s and 1960s, years which saw a decline in the number of cinema patrons and a huge rise in sales of television sets. In 1950 over 7 million television sets were sold in the U.S.A. and for the rest of the decade sales did not drop below 5 million per year. Producers looked to stars to provide legitimacy and gravitas to the new medium and many of the bet known stars of the big screen appeared in cameo and guest roles during this time. Television offered a chance to appear in a variety of genres with, on the whole, good production values, with the obvious benefit of a shorter filming schedule and, what every star needs, exposure to millions of viewers. The trend for guest spots for the biggest stars continues to this day, although the heyday for what would now be called 'stunt casting' was the 50s and 60s...until television started to create stars of its own. Many of the earliest programmes were broadcast live and no longer exist; Luise made her television debut on one such programme in 1952, an episode of the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, a series that ran for most of the decade.
As with much of Luise's post-Hollywood career her appearances were sporadic. Most of Luise's earliest TV performances are now lost but those that do survive show that her skill and integrity as an actress was applied to even the most inconsequential roles. In later years Luise became the star of choice to discuss the 'golden age of Hollywood' for a number of nostalgic documentaries looking back at the history of cinema, most notably the epic two-part miniseries MGM: When The Lion Roared, in 1992. The list here features all of Luise's acting roles for television, followed by these documentaries and interviews; I have also included Luise's radio appearances (marked as such), which amount to a couple of interviews and her appearance on the BBC's long-running programme Desert Island Discs. Where known I have given the original airdate and country of origin. For more details, including credits and additional information click on the linked text.
Pictured: Luise with Wilfred Lawson in The Stone Faces, a play for television by J.B. Priestley (1957)
Dramatic performances
Broadcast 11th February 1937
1949 The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre
Episode: Trapeze
First broadcast 24th January 1949 (USA)
1949 WPIX Theater Time
Episode: Lost Child
1949 By Candlelight
First broadcast 27th November 1949 (UK)
1950 BBC Sunday Night Theatre
First broadcast 5th March 1950 (UK)
1950 Lux Video Theatre
Episode: Rosalind
First broadcast 9th October 1950 (USA)
1951 Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre
Episode: Woman Overboard
First broadcast 19th May 1951 (USA)
1952 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Episode: Love Came Late
First broadcast 23rd May 1952 (USA)
1953 Lux Video Theatre
Episode: A Bouquet for Caroline
First broadcast 9th February 1953 (USA)
1954 Suspense
Episode: Torment
First broadcast 30th March 1954 (USA)
1957 BBC Sunday Night Theatre
First broadcast 1st December 1957 (UK)
1965 Combat!
Episode: Finest Hour
First broadcast 21st December 1965 USA)
Episode: Love is Blind / Baby Makers / Lady and the Maid
First broadcast in the USA on 3rd March 1984 (USA)
1988 By Herself: A Dancer
First broadcast in the UK in 1988
Interviews and non-dramatic roles
1944 The Adventures of Ellery Queen (radio)
Episode: The Inner Circle
Broadcast on 28th December 1944
1949 Toast of the Town
Episode broadcast 9th January 1949 (USA)
1949 Toast of the Town
Episode broadcast 6th February 1949 (USA)
1950 Toast of the Town
Episode broadcast 5th February 1950 (USA)
1956 U.N. Radio broadcast (radio)
Broadcast with her daughter Francesca to celebrate Child Health Day
1959 The Ed Sullivan Show
Episode broadcast 15th February 1959 (USA)
1959 The Ed Sullivan Show
Episode broadcast 29th March 1959 (USA)
1959 Telethon
Broadcast 16th and 17th May 1959 (USA)
1965 Girl Talk
Episode broadcast 5th November 1965 (USA)
Episode broadcast 15th June 1978 (UK)
1987 Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood!
First broadcast on 18th May 1987 (USA)
1992 MGM: When The Lion Roars
First broadcast 22nd March 1992 (USA)
1998 Boulevard Bio
Episode: Die letzte Leinwandgöttin
First broadcast 16th June 1998 (Germany)
1998 Changing Stages: A View of the Theatre of the 20th Century
Episode: America
First broadcast 1998 (UK / USA)
Episode broadcast 2nd April (UK)
2003 75 Years of the Academy Awards: An Unofficial History
First broadcast 18th March 2003 (UK)
2011 Luise Rainer at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival
First broadcast 12th January 2011 (US)
First broadcast 23rd February 2011 (UK)
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