Actors jinxed by Oscar
February 17, 2009
Come post-Oscar Monday-morning quarterbacking, some non-winners (sounds so much nicer than “losers”) would be wise to repeat one name over and other: Luise Rainer. Then again, some won’t even recognize her name.
The curse of the Oscar jinx started with poor Luise, who won two consecutive Best Actress trophies for playing wronged wives in 1936’s The Great Ziegfeld and 1937’s The Good Earth. By 1939, she was washed-up, moviegoers and critics having wearied of her ongoing parade of sad-eyed helpmates. One critic asserted that she registered so much self-pity that audience sympathy seemed superfluous.
But if Luise is forgotten, the Oscar Jinx rumor remains, the fear being that after winning the award, your best work is behind you. Some recent Oscar winners may be heading for the Rainer route.
Among the possibilities:
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1 response so far ↓
1 Tom Prejean // Mar 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Beautiful!! You named the great big elephant that resides in the corner of the room - right next to the Oscar statuette - so very well!
I’ve often thought that winning that award was much more curse - than blessing!
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