Claude Rains
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
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".
Born
Nov 10, 1889
Clapham, London, England, UK
Died
May 30, 1967
Known For
Acting
Movies
78 acting
0 crew
Popularity
1.4
Known For
Casablanca
1943
as Captain Louis Renault
Lawrence of Arabia
1962
as Mr. Dryden
The Invisible Man
1933
as Dr. Jack Griffin
The Adventures of Robin Hood
1938
as Prince John
Notorious
1946
as Alexander Sebastian
The Greatest Story Ever Told
1965
as King Herod
The Wolf Man
1941
as Sir John Talbot
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939
as Joseph Paine
Now, Voyager
1942
as Dr. Jaquith
The Sea Hawk
1940
as Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
Add to Watchlist
Movie will be added to your watchlist