Cast & creator
Claude Rains
Best known for Dr. Kildare, Naked City, Rawhide
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".
Also known as: William Claude Rains
77
film credits
13
television credits
90
1920–2013 · acting roles
6.7
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (90)
Showing 90 of 90 credits
Dr. Kildare
Edward Fredericks
1961
Naked City
John Winfield Weston
1958
Rawhide
Alexander Longford
1959
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
John Fabian
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Charles Gresham
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Andrew Thurgood
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Father Amion
1955Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Leonard Eldridge
1955
Playhouse 90
Judge Dan Haywood
1956
Sam Benedict
1962
Lawrence of Arabia
Mr. Dryden
1962
Casablanca
Captain Louis Renault
1943
The Wolf Man
Sir John Talbot
1941
The Invisible Man
Dr. Jack Griffin
1933
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Mr. Brink
1951Hallmark Hall of Fame
The High Lama
1951
The Greatest Story Ever Told
King Herod
1965
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Prince John
1938
Notorious
Alexander Sebastian
1946
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Joseph Paine
1939
Phantom of the Opera
Erique Claudin
1943
The Sea Hawk
Don José Alvarez de Cordoba
1940
Mr. Skeffington
Job Skeffington
1944
Now, Voyager
Dr. Jaquith
1942
Caesar and Cleopatra
Julius Caesar
1945
This Earth Is Mine
Philippe Rambeau
1959
The Lost World
Prof. George Edward Challenger
1960
Forever and a Day
Ambrose Pomfret
1943
The Prince and the Pauper
Earl of Hertford
1937
Juarez
Emperor Louis Napoleon III
1939
Angel on My Shoulder
"Nick"
1946
Famous Monster: Forrest J Ackerman
Self (archive footage)
2007
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Mr. Jordan
1941
The Passionate Friends
Howard Justin
1949
Gold Is Where You Find It
Colonel Ferris
1938
The Unsuspected
Victor Grandison
1947
Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored
Self (archive footage)
2013
They Made Me a Criminal
Det. Monty Phelan
1939
This Love of Ours
Joseph Targel
1945
Moontide
Nutsy
1942
Lady with Red Hair
David Belasco
1940
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
1987
Passage to Marseille
Capt. Freycinet
1944
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Self (archive footage)
1999
Where Danger Lives
Mr. Lannington
1950
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Mayor of Hamelin
1957
Battle of the Worlds
Professor Benson
1961
Anthony Adverse
Marquis Don Luis
1936
Breakdowns of 1938
Claude Rains (archive footage) (uncredited)
1938
Breakdowns of 1942
Self
1942
They Won't Forget
District Attorney Andrew J. Griffin
1937
The Man Who Watched Trains Go By
Kees Popinga
1952
The White Tower
Paul Delambre
1950
Four Wives
Adam Lemp
1939
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
John Jasper
1935
Rope of Sand
Arthur 'Fred' Martingale
1949
Scrooge
Jacob Marley (voice) (uncredited)
1935
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1941
Deception
Alexander Hollenius
1946
Blow-Ups of 1946
Self
1946
Ingrid Bergman Remembered
Self (archive footage)
1996
The Clairvoyant
Maximus
1935
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
1979
The Making of a Great Motion Picture
1936
Four Mothers
Adam Lemp
1941
Twilight of Honor
Art Harper
1963
The Last Outpost
John Stevenson
1935
Four Daughters
Adam Lemp
1938
Kings Row
Alexander Tower
1942
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
Paul Verin
1934
Lisbon
Aristides Mavros
1956
Hearts Divided
Napoleon Bonaparte
1936
Breakdowns of 1937
Self
1937
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judge Dan Haywood
1959
Daughters Courageous
Jim Masters
1939
Crime Without Passion
Lee Gentry
1934
Sealed Cargo
Capt. Henrik Skalder
1951
The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked
Erique Claudin (archive footage)
2000
Stolen Holiday
Stefan Orloff
1937
Halloween Monster Bash
Maximus (archive footage)
1991
Breakdowns of 1936
Self
1936
Sons of Liberty
Haym Salomon
1939
Saturday's Children
Mr. Henry Halevy
1940On Borrowed Time
Mr. Brink
1957
Song of Surrender
Elisha Hunt
1949
White Banners
Paul Ward
1938
Strange Holiday
John Stevenson
1945
Build Thy House
Clarkis
1920