Claude Rains
Claude Rains (November 10, 1889 – May 30, 1967) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man (1933), a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Captain Renault in Casablanca (1942).
Rains was born William Claude Rains in Camberwell, London on November 10, 1889. He grew up, according to his daughter, with "a very serious cockney accent and a speech impediment". His father was British stage actor Frederick Rains, and the young Rains made his stage debut at 11 in Nell of Old Drury.
His acting talents were recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, founder of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Tree paid for the elocution lessons Rains needed in order to succeed as an actor. Later, Rains taught at the institution, teaching John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, among others.
Rains served in the First World War in the London Scottish Regiment, with fellow actors Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman and Herbert Marshall. Rains was involved in a gas attack that left him nearly blind in one eye for the rest of his life. However, the war did aid his social advancement and, by its end, he had risen from the rank of Private to Captain.
Rains began his career in the London theatre, having a success in the title role of John Drinkwater's play Ulysses S. Grant, the follow-up to the playwright's major hit Abraham Lincoln, and traveled to Broadway in the late 1920s to act in leading roles in such plays as Shaw's The Apple Cart and in the dramatizations of The Constant Nymph, and Pearl S. Buck's novel The Good Earth, as a Chinese farmer.
Rains came relatively late to film acting and his first screen test was a failure, but his distinctive voice won him the title role in James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) when someone accidentally overheard his screen test being played in the next room. Rains later credited director Michael Curtiz with teaching him the more understated requirements of film acting, or "what not to do in front of a camera".
Photos
Movies (77)
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
2013 · Self (archive footage)
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
2007 · Self (archive footage)
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
2000 · Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
1999 · Self (archive footage)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
1996 · Self (archive footage)
Halloween Monster Bash
1991 · Maximus (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987 · Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Horror Show
1979 · (archive footage)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965 · King Herod
Twilight of Honor
1963 · Art Harper
Lawrence of Arabia
1962 · Mr. Dryden
Battle of the Worlds
1961 · Professor Benson
The Lost World
1960 · Prof. George Edward Challenger
This Earth Is Mine
1959 · Philippe Rambeau
Judgment at Nuremberg
1959 · Judge Dan Haywood
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
1957 · Mayor of Hamelin
On Borrowed Time
1957 · Mr. Brink
Lisbon
1956 · Aristides Mavros
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
1952 · Kees Popinga
Sealed Cargo
1951 · Capt. Henrik Skalder
Where Danger Lives
1950 · Mr. Lannington
The White Tower
1950 · Paul Delambre
Song of Surrender
1949 · Elisha Hunt
Rope of Sand
1949 · Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
The Passionate Friends
1949 · Howard Justin
The Unsuspected
1947 · Victor Grandison
Blow-Ups of 1946
1946 · Self
Deception
1946 · Alexander Hollenius
Angel on My Shoulder
1946 · "Nick"
Notorious
1946 · Alexander Sebastian
Caesar and Cleopatra
1946 · Julius Caesar
This Love of Ours
1945 · Joseph Targel
Strange Holiday
1945 · John Stevenson
Mr. Skeffington
1944 · Job Skeffington
Passage to Marseille
1944 · Capt. Freycinet
Phantom of the Opera
1943 · Erique Claudin
Forever and a Day
1943 · Ambrose Pomfret
Casablanca
1943 · Captain Louis Renault
Breakdowns of 1942
1942 · Self
Now, Voyager
1942 · Dr. Jaquith
Moontide
1942 · Nutsy
Kings Row
1942 · Alexander Tower
The Wolf Man
1941 · Sir John Talbot
Breakdowns of 1941
1941 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
1941 · Mr. Jordan
Four Mothers
1941 · Adam Lemp
Lady with Red Hair
1940 · David Belasco
The Sea Hawk
1940 · Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Saturday's Children
1940 · Mr. Henry Halevy
Four Wives
1939 · Adam Lemp
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 · Joseph Paine
Daughters Courageous
1939 · Jim Masters
Juarez
1939 · Emperor Louis Napoleon III
Sons of Liberty
1939 · Haym Salomon
They Made Me a Criminal
1939 · Det. Monty Phelan
Breakdowns of 1938
1938 · Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Four Daughters
1938 · Adam Lemp
White Banners
1938 · Paul Ward
The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938 · Prince John
Gold Is Where You Find It
1938 · Colonel Ferris
Breakdowns of 1937
1937 · Self
They Won't Forget
1937 · District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
The Prince and the Pauper
1937 · Earl of Hertford
Stolen Holiday
1937 · Stefan Orloff
Breakdowns of 1936
1936 · Self
Anthony Adverse
1936 · Marquis Don Luis
Hearts Divided
1936 · Napoleon Bonaparte
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
1936
Scrooge
1935 · Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
The Last Outpost
1935 · John Stevenson
The Clairvoyant
1935 · Maximus
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
1935 · John Jasper
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
1934 · Paul Verin
Crime Without Passion
1934 · Lee Gentry
The Invisible Man
1933 · Dr. Jack Griffin
Build Thy House
1920 · Clarkis
TV shows (8)
Sam Benedict
1962
Dr. Kildare
1961 · Edward Fredericks
Rawhide
1959 · Alexander Longford
Naked City
1958 · John Winfield Weston
Playhouse 90
1956 · Judge Dan Haywood
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · John Fabian, Charles Gresham, Andrew Thurgood, Father Amion, Leonard Eldridge
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · Mr. Brink, The High Lama
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948 · Self