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Claude Rains
Acting
Biography
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 S…
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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".
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Claude Rains's Filmography
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Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
as Self (archive footage)
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
as Self (archive footage)
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
as Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
as Self (archive footage)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
as Self (archive footage)
Halloween Monster Bash
as Maximus (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
as Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Horror Show
as (archive footage)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
as King Herod
Twilight of Honor
as Art Harper
Lawrence of Arabia
as Mr. Dryden
Battle of the Worlds
as Professor Benson
The Lost World
as Prof. George Edward Challenger
This Earth Is Mine
as Philippe Rambeau
Judgment at Nuremberg
as Judge Dan Haywood
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
as Mayor of Hamelin
No Poster
On Borrowed Time
as Mr. Brink
Lisbon
as Aristides Mavros
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
as Kees Popinga
Sealed Cargo
as Capt. Henrik Skalder
Where Danger Lives
as Mr. Lannington
The White Tower
as Paul Delambre
Song of Surrender
as Elisha Hunt
Rope of Sand
as Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
The Passionate Friends
as Howard Justin
The Unsuspected
as Victor Grandison
Blow-Ups of 1946
as Self
Deception
as Alexander Hollenius
Angel on My Shoulder
as "Nick"
Notorious
as Alexander Sebastian
Caesar and Cleopatra
as Julius Caesar
This Love of Ours
as Joseph Targel
Strange Holiday
as John Stevenson
Mr. Skeffington
as Job Skeffington
Passage to Marseille
as Capt. Freycinet
Phantom of the Opera
as Erique Claudin
Forever and a Day
as Ambrose Pomfret
Casablanca
as Captain Louis Renault
Breakdowns of 1942
as Self
Now, Voyager
as Dr. Jaquith
Moontide
as Nutsy
Kings Row
as Alexander Tower
The Wolf Man
as Sir John Talbot
Breakdowns of 1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
as Mr. Jordan
Four Mothers
as Adam Lemp
Lady with Red Hair
as David Belasco
The Sea Hawk
as Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Saturday's Children
as Mr. Henry Halevy
Four Wives
as Adam Lemp
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Joseph Paine
Daughters Courageous
as Jim Masters
Juarez
as Emperor Louis Napoleon III
Sons of Liberty
as Haym Salomon
They Made Me a Criminal
as Det. Monty Phelan
Breakdowns of 1938
as Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Four Daughters
as Adam Lemp
White Banners
as Paul Ward
The Adventures of Robin Hood
as Prince John
Gold Is Where You Find It
as Colonel Ferris
Breakdowns of 1937
as Self
They Won't Forget
as District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
The Prince and the Pauper
as Earl of Hertford
Stolen Holiday
as Stefan Orloff
Breakdowns of 1936
as Self
Anthony Adverse
as Marquis Don Luis
Hearts Divided
as Napoleon Bonaparte
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
Scrooge
as Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
The Last Outpost
as John Stevenson
The Clairvoyant
as Maximus
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
as John Jasper
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
as Paul Verin
Crime Without Passion
as Lee Gentry
The Invisible Man
as Dr. Jack Griffin
Build Thy House
as Clarkis