Claude Rains

Acting · 1.6 popularity

Age

136

Movies

Born: November 10, 1889 – May 30, 1967
From: Clapham, London, England, UK

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".

Works

78 films

Lawrence of Arabia

19628.0

Casablanca

19438.1

The Adventures of Robin Hood

19387.5

Notorious

19467.7

The Invisible Man

19337.5

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

19397.8

The Wolf Man

19417.0

The Greatest Story Ever Told

19656.4

Mr. Skeffington

19446.8

The Sea Hawk

19407.2

Now, Voyager

19427.4

The Lost World

19605.8

Phantom of the Opera

19436.2

Juarez

19396.5

Caesar and Cleopatra

19456.2

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

19417.0

The Prince and the Pauper

19376.8

Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored

20135.5

Passage to Marseille

19446.6

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

19876.5

Breakdowns of 1941

19417.0

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

19575.6

Breakdowns of 1942

19426.0

Rope of Sand

19495.8

Ingrid Bergman Remembered

19966.7

Breakdowns of 1938

19385.8

Kings Row

19427.3

They Made Me a Criminal

19396.3

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

19837.0

Angel on My Shoulder

19466.5

The Passionate Friends

19496.9

Gold Is Where You Find It

19387.0

Where Danger Lives

19506.4

Breakdowns of 1936

1936

Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman

20079.0

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

19355.9

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By

19525.9

Moontide

19426.4

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

19997.3

The Unsuspected

19476.7

Deception

19466.7

Battle of the Worlds

19614.6

Twilight of Honor

19636.5

The Man Who Reclaimed His Head

19346.0

The Clairvoyant

19356.0

The Horror Show

19793.4

Four Wives

19395.5

Daughters Courageous

19396.3

Forever and a Day

19437.5

Lisbon

19566.4

Hearts Divided

19365.5

This Earth Is Mine

19596.6

Lady with Red Hair

19406.9

The Last Outpost

19356.2

The Wolfman

19667.7

Breakdowns of 1937

19376.0

Halloween Monster Bash

1991

Anthony Adverse

19365.7

Four Daughters

19386.6

Scrooge

19356.1

Sealed Cargo

19516.5

Four Mothers

19416.8

Judgment at Nuremberg

19596.0

On Borrowed Time

1957

They Won't Forget

19375.9

Sons of Liberty

19396.3

The White Tower

19505.6

This Love of Ours

19456.0

White Banners

19386.1

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked

20008.0

Song of Surrender

19497.0

Crime Without Passion

19345.9

Blow-Ups of 1946

19466.0

The Making of a Great Motion Picture

19366.7

Strange Holiday

19456.8

Stolen Holiday

19376.4

Saturday's Children

19406.9

Build Thy House

19207.0