Claude Rains
Claude Rains (10 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
Dr. Kildare
Edward Fredericks
Rawhide
Alexander Longford
Sam Benedict
Playhouse 90
Judge Dan Haywood
Svengoolie
Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mr. Brink
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The High Lama
Naked City
John Winfield Weston
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
Casablanca
Captain Louis Renault
Lawrence of Arabia
Mr. Dryden
Scrooge
Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
King Herod
The Invisible Man
Dr. Jack Griffin
Notorious
Alexander Sebastian
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Prince John
The Wolf Man
Sir John Talbot
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Joseph Paine
Phantom of the Opera
Erique Claudin
Now, Voyager
Dr. Jaquith
The Sea Hawk
Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
The Lost World
Prof. George Edward Challenger
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Kees Popinga
Caesar and Cleopatra
Julius Caesar
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Mayor of Hamelin
The Prince and the Pauper
Earl of Hertford
Angel on My Shoulder
Nick
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Mr. Jordan
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
They Won't Forget
District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
They Made Me a Criminal
Det. Monty Phelan
Forever and a Day
Ambrose Pomfret
Twilight of Honor
Art Harper
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
John Jasper
Deception
Alexander Hollenius
The White Tower
Paul Delambre
Where Danger Lives
Frederick Lannington
Juarez
Emperor Louis Napoleon III
Four Mothers
Adam Lemp
Anthony Adverse
Marquis Don Luis
The Passionate Friends
Howard Justin
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Self (archive footage)
Mr. Skeffington
Job Skeffington
The Unsuspected
Victor Grandison
Lisbon
Aristides Mavros
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Kings Row
Alexander Tower
Four Daughters
Adam Lemp
Moontide
Nutsy
Sealed Cargo
Capt. Henrik Skalder
Gold Is Where You Find It
Colonel Ferris
This Earth Is Mine
Philippe Rambeau
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
Crime Without Passion
Lee Gentry
Breakdowns of 1938
Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rope of Sand
Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
The Clairvoyant
Maximus
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
Self (archive footage)
Daughters Courageous
Jim Masters
Lady with Red Hair
David Belasco
Battle of the Worlds
Professor Benson
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
This Love of Ours
Joseph Targel
The Last Outpost
John Stevenson
Song of Surrender
Elisha Hunt
Saturday's Children
Mr. Henry Halevy
Four Wives
Adam Lemp
Passage to Marseille
Captain Freycinet
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
White Banners
Paul Ward
Stolen Holiday
Stefan Orloff
Strange Holiday
John Stevenson
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
Paul Verin
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
Breakdowns of 1942
Self
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judge Dan Haywood
Sons of Liberty
Haym Salomon
Breakdowns of 1937
Self
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
Blow-Ups of 1946
Self
On Borrowed Time
Mr. Brink
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Hearts Divided
Napoleon Bonaparte
Build Thy House
Clarkis
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
The dark Universe
El hombre invisible (archivo de imagen)