Claude Rains
Acting • Born 1889-11-10 – Died 1967-05-30
Biography
Claude Rains 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
91 credits
Casablanca
Movie • 1943
Captain Louis Renault
Notorious
Movie • 1946
Alexander Sebastian
Lawrence of Arabia
Movie • 1962
Mr. Dryden
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Movie • 1939
Joseph Paine
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Movie • 1965
King Herod
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Movie • 1938
Prince John
The Lost World
Movie • 1960
Prof. George Edward Challenger
The Invisible Man
Movie • 1933
Dr. Jack Griffin
Where Danger Lives
Movie • 1950
Mr. Lannington
Caesar and Cleopatra
Movie • 1945
Julius Caesar
Angel on My Shoulder
Movie • 1946
"Nick"
Battle of the Worlds
Movie • 1961
Professor Benson
Deception
Movie • 1946
Alexander Hollenius
They Made Me a Criminal
Movie • 1939
Det. Monty Phelan
Now, Voyager
Movie • 1942
Dr. Jaquith
The Sea Hawk
Movie • 1940
Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
The Horror Show
Movie • 1979
(archive footage)
Crime Without Passion
Movie • 1934
Lee Gentry
The Wolf Man
Movie • 1941
Sir John Talbot
The Unsuspected
Movie • 1947
Victor Grandison
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
Movie • 1936
Moontide
Movie • 1942
Nutsy
The Prince and the Pauper
Movie • 1937
Earl of Hertford
Mr. Skeffington
Movie • 1944
Job Skeffington
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Movie • 1952
Kees Popinga
Forever and a Day
Movie • 1943
Ambrose Pomfret
Rope of Sand
Movie • 1949
Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
Anthony Adverse
Movie • 1936
Marquis Don Luis
Phantom of the Opera
Movie • 1943
Erique Claudin
Build Thy House
Movie • 1920
Clarkis
The Clairvoyant
Movie • 1935
Maximus
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Movie • 1941
Mr. Jordan
Four Daughters
Movie • 1938
Adam Lemp
Passage to Marseille
Movie • 1944
Captain Freycinet
They Won't Forget
Movie • 1937
District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
The Passionate Friends
Movie • 1949
Howard Justin
Breakdowns of 1941
Movie • 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie • 1983
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Kings Row
Movie • 1942
Alexander Tower
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Movie • 1935
John Jasper
The White Tower
Movie • 1950
Paul Delambre
The Last Outpost
Movie • 1935
John Stevenson
Juarez
Movie • 1939
Emperor Louis Napoleon III
Lady with Red Hair
Movie • 1940
David Belasco
White Banners
Movie • 1938
Paul Ward
Four Wives
Movie • 1939
Adam Lemp
Strange Holiday
Movie • 1945
John Stevenson
This Earth Is Mine
Movie • 1959
Philippe Rambeau
Daughters Courageous
Movie • 1939
Jim Masters
Four Mothers
Movie • 1941
Adam Lemp
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
Movie • 1934
Paul Verin
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Movie • 1957
Mayor of Hamelin
Saturday's Children
Movie • 1940
Mr. Henry Halevy
Twilight of Honor
Movie • 1963
Art Harper
Hearts Divided
Movie • 1936
Napoleon Bonaparte
Stolen Holiday
Movie • 1937
Stefan Orloff
Sealed Cargo
Movie • 1951
Capt. Henrik Skalder
This Love of Ours
Movie • 1945
Joseph Targel
Gold Is Where You Find It
Movie • 1938
Colonel Ferris
Lisbon
Movie • 1956
Aristides Mavros
Sons of Liberty
Movie • 1939
Haym Salomon
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Movie • 2013
Self (archive footage)
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
Movie • 2000
Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Song of Surrender
Movie • 1949
Elisha Hunt
Breakdowns of 1936
Movie • 1936
Self
Breakdowns of 1937
Movie • 1937
Self
Blow-Ups of 1946
Movie • 1946
Self
Breakdowns of 1938
Movie • 1938
Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Movie • 1996
Self (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Movie • 1987
Self (archive footage)
Scrooge
Movie • 1935
Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
On Borrowed Time
Movie • 1957
Mr. Brink
Breakdowns of 1942
Movie • 1942
Self
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
Movie • 2007
Self (archive footage)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage)
Judgment at Nuremberg
Movie • 1959
Judge Dan Haywood
The Dark Universe
Movie • 2023
El hombre invisible (archivo de imagen)
The Wolfman
Movie • 1966
Sir John Talbot
Naked City
TV • 1958
John Winfield Weston
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Mr. Brink
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
John Fabian
Sam Benedict
TV • 1962
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Alexander Longford
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Edward Fredericks
Playhouse 90
TV • 1956
Judge Dan Haywood
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Charles Gresham
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Andrew Thurgood
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Father Amion
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Leonard Eldridge
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
The High Lama