Person
Claude Rains
Clapham, London, England, UK
Claude Rains (November 10, 1889 – May 30, 1967) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles…
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Claude Rains (November 10, 1889 – May 30, 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 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
Movies and shows, newest first
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2013
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2007
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2000
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
Movie Erique Claudin (archive footage)
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1999
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1996
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1991
Halloween Monster Bash
Movie Maximus (archive footage)
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1987
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1983
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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1979
The Horror Show
Movie (archive footage)
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1965
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Movie King Herod
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1963
Twilight of Honor
Movie Art Harper
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1962
Lawrence of Arabia
Movie Mr. Dryden
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1962
Sam Benedict
TV show
-
1961
Battle of the Worlds
Movie Professor Benson
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1961
Dr. Kildare
TV show Edward Fredericks
-
1960
The Lost World
Movie Prof. George Edward Challenger
More credits
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1959
This Earth Is Mine
Movie Philippe Rambeau
-
1959
Judgment at Nuremberg
Movie Judge Dan Haywood
-
1959
Rawhide
TV show Alexander Longford
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1958
Naked City
TV show John Winfield Weston
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1957
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Movie Mayor of Hamelin
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1957
On Borrowed Time
Movie Mr. Brink
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1956
Playhouse 90
TV show Judge Dan Haywood
-
1956
Lisbon
Movie Aristides Mavros
-
1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV show John Fabian
-
1952
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Movie Kees Popinga
-
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV show Mr. Brink
-
1951
Sealed Cargo
Movie Capt. Henrik Skalder
-
1950
Where Danger Lives
Movie Mr. Lannington
-
1950
The White Tower
Movie Paul Delambre
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1949
Song of Surrender
Movie Elisha Hunt
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1949
Rope of Sand
Movie Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
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1949
The Passionate Friends
Movie Howard Justin
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1948
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV show Self
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1947
The Unsuspected
Movie Victor Grandison
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1946
Blow-Ups of 1946
Movie Self
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1946
Deception
Movie Alexander Hollenius
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1946
Angel on My Shoulder
Movie "Nick"
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1946
Notorious
Movie Alexander Sebastian
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1945
Caesar and Cleopatra
Movie Julius Caesar
