Cast

Claude Rains

Acting

Cast

Claude Rains

Known for

Acting

Born

1889-11-10

From

Clapham, London, England, UK

Died

1967-05-30

Also known as William Claude Rains

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".

Claude Rains

Claude Rains

Biography

Casablanca

Lawrence of Arabia

Juarez

The Invisible Man

Notorious

Mr. Skeffington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

The Adventures of Robin Hood

Breakdowns of 1942

This Earth Is Mine

The Greatest Story Ever Told

Breakdowns of 1941

The Wolf Man

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Caesar and Cleopatra

The Passionate Friends

On Borrowed Time

The Lost World

Passage to Marseille

Now, Voyager

Four Wives

Gold Is Where You Find It

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Last Outpost

Breakdowns of 1938

Daughters Courageous

The Sea Hawk

Lady with Red Hair

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Judgment at Nuremberg

Four Daughters

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

Sealed Cargo

Breakdowns of 1937

Twilight of Honor

Saturday's Children

The Wolfman

The Man Who Reclaimed His Head

They Won't Forget

Phantom of the Opera

Kings Row

Where Danger Lives

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

Four Mothers

This Love of Ours

Strange Holiday

The Unsuspected

Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'

The White Tower

The Prince and the Pauper

Moontide

Rope of Sand

The Clairvoyant

Breakdowns of 1936

Angel on My Shoulder

They Made Me a Criminal

White Banners

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

Halloween Monster Bash

Anthony Adverse

Sons of Liberty

Stolen Holiday

Hearts Divided

Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored

Lisbon

Forever and a Day

The Horror Show

Scrooge

Ingrid Bergman Remembered

Blow-Ups of 1946

Deception

Crime Without Passion

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

Battle of the Worlds

Song of Surrender

The Making of a Great Motion Picture