Claude Rains
Age: 77 | From: Clapham, London, England, UK
Person Details
Birthday: 1889-11-10 06:23:00
Death: 1967-05-30 06:23:00
Aliases: William Claude Rains
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Clapham, London, England, UK
Homepage:
Movie Involvements: 63
TV Involvements: 11
Most Famous Work
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".
Most Famous Work
Dr. Kildare
(1961) Edward Fredericks
Rawhide
(1959) Alexander Longford
Naked City
(1958) John Winfield Weston
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(1955) Leonard Eldridge
Hallmark Hall of Fame
(1951) The High Lama
Casablanca
(1943) Captain Louis Renault
Lawrence of Arabia
(1962) Mr. Dryden
The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938) Prince JohnActing
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 2007 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 2000 | Erique Claudin (archive footage) | |
| 1999 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1996 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1988 | Self (archive footage) | |
| 1983 | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | |
| 1979 | (archive footage) | |
| 1966 | Sir John Talbot | |
| 1965 | King Herod | |
| 1963 | Art Harper | |
| 1962 | Mr. Dryden | |
| N/A | ||
| 1961 | Edward Fredericks | |
| Professor Benson | ||
| 1960 | Prof. George Edward Challenger | |
| 1959 | Philippe Rambeau | |
| Judge Dan Haywood | ||
| Alexander Longford | ||
| 1958 | John Winfield Weston | |
| 1957 | Mayor of Hamelin | |
| Mr. Brink | ||
| 1956 | Aristides Mavros | |
| 1955 | John Fabian | |
| Charles Gresham | ||
| Leonard Eldridge | ||
| Father Amion | ||
| Andrew Thurgood | ||
| Alexander Sebastian (archive footage) (uncredited) | ||
| 1952 | Kees Popinga | |
| 1951 | Mr. Brink | |
| The High Lama | ||
| Capt. Henrik Skalder | ||
| 1950 | Frederick Lannington | |
| Paul Delambre | ||
| 1949 | Elisha Hunt | |
| Arthur 'Fred' Martingale | ||
| Howard Justin | ||
| 1948 | Self | |
| 1947 | Victor Grandison | |
| 1946 | Self | |
| Alexander Hollenius | ||
| Nick | ||
| Alexander Sebastian | ||
| 1945 | Julius Caesar | |
| Joseph Targel | ||
| John Stevenson | ||
| 1944 | Job Skeffington | |
| Captain Freycinet | ||
| 1943 | Erique Claudin | |
| Ambrose Pomfret | ||
| Captain Louis Renault | ||
| 1942 | Self | |
| Dr. Jaquith | ||
| Nutsy | ||
| Alexander Tower | ||
| 1941 | Sir John Talbot | |
| Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | ||
| Mr. Jordan | ||
| Adam Lemp | ||
| 1940 | David Belasco | |
| Don José Alvarez de Cordoba | ||
| Mr. Henry Halevy | ||
| 1939 | Adam Lemp | |
| Joseph Paine | ||
| Jim Masters | ||
| Emperor Louis Napoleon III | ||
| Haym Salomon | ||
| Det. Monty Phelan | ||
| 1938 | Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited) | |
| Adam Lemp | ||
| Paul Ward | ||
| Prince John | ||
| Colonel Ferris | ||
| 1937 | Self | |
| District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin | ||
| Earl of Hertford | ||
| Stefan Orloff | ||
| 1936 | Self | |
| Marquis Don Luis | ||
| Napoleon Bonaparte | ||
| N/A | ||
| 1935 | Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited) | |
| John Stevenson | ||
| Maximus | ||
| John Jasper | ||
| 1934 | Paul Verin | |
| Lee Gentry | ||
| 1933 | Dr. Jack Griffin | |
| 1920 | Clarkis | |
| Year | Character | Movie/Tv |
