Claude Rains
Claude Rains (9 November 1889 – 30 May 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, perhaps his most famous performance, 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".
Known for
Rawhide
Alexander Longford
Dr. Kildare
Edward Fredericks
Naked City
John Winfield Weston
Sealed Cargo
Capt. Henrik Skalder
Lawrence of Arabia
Mr. Dryden
Daughters Courageous
Jim Masters
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
John Fabian
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Charles Gresham
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Andrew Thurgood
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Father Amion
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Leonard Eldridge
Four Wives
Adam Lemp
Casablanca
Captain Louis Renault
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Prince John
Deception
Alexander Hollenius
Rope of Sand
Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
Four Daughters
Adam Lemp
Now, Voyager
Dr. Jaquith
Twilight of Honor
Art Harper
Scrooge
Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
Moontide
Nutsy
The Clairvoyant
Maximus
Four Mothers
Adam Lemp
The Greatest Story Ever Told
King Herod
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Joseph Paine
Kings Row
Alexander Tower
The Lost World
Prof. George Edward Challenger
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
Playhouse 90
Judge Dan Haywood
White Banners
Paul Ward
The Unsuspected
Victor Grandison
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Kees Popinga
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
Paul Verin
Lisbon
Aristides Mavros
Gold Is Where You Find It
Colonel Ferris
This Earth Is Mine
Philippe Rambeau
Crime Without Passion
Lee Gentry
Passage to Marseille
Captain Freycinet
Stolen Holiday
Stefan Orloff
Sam Benedict
Breakdowns of 1942
Self
The White Tower
Paul Delambre
Phantom of the Opera
Erique Claudin
The Last Outpost
John Stevenson
The Passionate Friends
Howard Justin
Hearts Divided
Napoleon Bonaparte
The Prince and the Pauper
Earl of Hertford
Breakdowns of 1938
Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
Juarez
Emperor Louis Napoleon III
They Won't Forget
District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
The Sea Hawk
Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Mr. Skeffington
Job Skeffington
This Love of Ours
Joseph Targel
Notorious
Alexander Sebastian
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
Angel on My Shoulder
"Nick"
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Self (archive footage)
Saturday's Children
Mr. Henry Halevy
Anthony Adverse
Marquis Don Luis
The Invisible Man
Dr. Jack Griffin
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Wolf Man
Sir John Talbot
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
John Jasper
Forever and a Day
Ambrose Pomfret
They Made Me a Criminal
Det. Monty Phelan
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Mayor of Hamelin
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judge Dan Haywood
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
Sons of Liberty
Haym Salomon
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1937
Self
Song of Surrender
Elisha Hunt
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mr. Brink
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The High Lama
Blow-Ups of 1946
Self
On Borrowed Time
Mr. Brink
Caesar and Cleopatra
Julius Caesar
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Mr. Jordan
Battle of the Worlds
Professor Benson
Where Danger Lives
Mr. Lannington
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Strange Holiday
John Stevenson
Lady with Red Hair
David Belasco
Build Thy House
Clarkis
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
The Dark Universe
El hombre invisible (archivo de imagen)
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self