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 Washingt ... on (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".
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| Organization | Category | Movie | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Globes | Best Actress | Murder, He Says | Nominated |
| Golden Globes | Best Supporting Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg | Nominated |
| Venice Film Festival | Best Actor | The White Angel | Nominated |
Naked City
as John Winfield Weston
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 30, 1958
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as Mr. Brink
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Dec 24, 1951
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as John Fabian
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
Rawhide
as Alexander Longford
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 09, 1959
Dr. Kildare
as Edward Fredericks
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 27, 1961
Playhouse 90
as Judge Dan Haywood
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 04, 1956
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Charles Gresham
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Andrew Thurgood
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Father Amion
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Leonard Eldridge
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
Hallmark Hall of Fame
as The High Lama
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Dec 24, 1951
Svengoolie
as Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jan 07, 1995
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
as Alexander Sebastian (archive footage) (uncredited)
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Oct 02, 1955
The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Jun 20, 1948
Sam Benedict
Episodes: 1
First Aired: Sep 15, 1962
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