Claude Rains
Acting
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".
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
as Self (archive footage)
Age 123 (now 77)
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
as Self (archive footage)
Age 117 (now 77)
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
as Erique Claudin (archive footage)
Age 110 (now 77)
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
as Self (archive footage)
Age 109 (now 77)
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
as Self (archive footage)
Age 106 (now 77)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
as Self (archive footage)
Age 97 (now 77)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Age 93 (now 77)
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
as Kees Popinga
Age 63 (now 77)
Breakdowns of 1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Age 52 (now 77)
Breakdowns of 1938
as Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
Age 49 (now 77)
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
as Paul Verin
Age 45 (now 77)
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Charles Gresham
Age 65 (now 77) Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Andrew Thurgood
Age 65 (now 77) Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Leonard Eldridge
Age 65 (now 77)
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Also Known As
William Claude Rains
IMDB
nm0001647