Claude Rains

Claude Rains

  • Birthday: 1889-11-09
  • Deathday: 1967-05-30
  • Place of birth: Clapham, London, England, UK
  • Also know as: William Claude Rains

Biography

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".

Filmography

Battle of the Worlds

1961

As Professor Benson

Caesar and Cleopatra

1945

As Julius Caesar

Crime Without Passion

1934

As Lee Gentry

The Clairvoyant

1935

As Maximus

Four Daughters

1938

As Adam Lemp

They Won't Forget

1937

As District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

1935

As John Jasper

White Banners

1938

As Paul Ward

Strange Holiday

1945

As John Stevenson

Sons of Liberty

1939

As Haym Salomon

The Invisible Man

1933

As Dr. Jack Griffin

Breakdowns of 1937

1937

As Self

They Made Me a Criminal

1939

As Det. Monty Phelan

The Wolf Man

1941

As Sir John Talbot

The Unsuspected

1947

As Victor Grandison

The Prince and the Pauper

1937

As Earl of Hertford

Mr. Skeffington

1944

As Job Skeffington

Passage to Marseille

1944

As Captain Freycinet

The Passionate Friends

1949

As Howard Justin

Lady with Red Hair

1940

As David Belasco

Daughters Courageous

1939

As Jim Masters

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

1957

As Mayor of Hamelin

Stolen Holiday

1937

As Stefan Orloff

This Love of Ours

1945

As Joseph Targel

Song of Surrender

1949

As Elisha Hunt

The Wolf Man

1966

As Sir John Talbot

Notorious

1946

As Alexander Sebastian

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

As Joseph Paine

Where Danger Lives

1950

As Frederick Lannington

Deception

1946

As Alexander Hollenius

Now, Voyager

1942

As Dr. Jaquith

The Sea Hawk

1940

As Don José Alvarez de Cordoba

Rope of Sand

1949

As Arthur 'Fred' Martingale

Phantom of the Opera

1943

As Erique Claudin

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

1941

As Mr. Jordan

The White Tower

1950

As Paul Delambre

The Last Outpost

1935

As John Stevenson

Saturday's Children

1940

As Mr. Henry Halevy

Twilight of Honor

1963

As Art Harper

Hearts Divided

1936

As Napoleon Bonaparte

Sealed Cargo

1951

As Capt. Henrik Skalder

Lisbon

1956

As Aristides Mavros

Gold Is Where You Find It

1938

As Colonel Ferris

The Lost World

1960

As Prof. George Edward Challenger

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1938

As Prince John

Moontide

1942

As Nutsy

Juarez

1939

As Emperor Louis Napoleon III

This Earth Is Mine

1959

As Philippe Rambeau

Casablanca

1943

As Captain Louis Renault

Four Wives

1939

As Adam Lemp

Four Mothers

1941

As Adam Lemp

Anthony Adverse

1936

As Marquis Don Luis

Kings Row

1942

As Alexander Tower

Lawrence of Arabia

1962

As Mr. Dryden

Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored

2013

As Self (archive footage)

Build Thy House

1920

As Clarkis

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

2000

As Erique Claudin (archive footage)

Ingrid Bergman Remembered

1996

As Self (archive footage)

On Borrowed Time

1957

As Mr. Brink

Forever and a Day

1943

As Ambrose Pomfret

Blow-Ups of 1946

1946

As Self

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman

2007

As Self (archive footage)

Scrooge

1935

As Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)

The Greatest Story Ever Told

1965

As King Herod

Breakdowns of 1941

1941

As Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Breakdowns of 1936

1936

As Self

The Horror Show

1979

As (archive footage)

Breakdowns of 1942

1942

As Self

Breakdowns of 1938

1938

As Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

1988

As Self (archive footage)

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

1983

As Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

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