Claude Rains

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Birth Name: William Claude Rains

Born: 10 November 1889 Died: 30 May 1967

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Height: 5' 6"

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105 votes

100 Graves of Famous Actors/Actresses (100 items)
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Published 15 years ago

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As Cool As It Gets (150 items)
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Published 11 years, 11 months ago

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Tribute to the Dinosaurs of the Cinema (122 items)
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Published 10 years, 7 months ago

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1001 Performances To See Before Retiring! (357 items)
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Published 13 years, 6 months ago

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42 votes

Who's the Best Classic Actor? (53 items)
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Published 11 years, 9 months ago

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Claude Rains Videos

Movie Legends - Claude Rains V2

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TCM Tribute to Claude Rains

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Description: 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 travelled to Broadway in the late 1920s to act in leading roles in such plays as Shaw's The Apple Cart and in the dramatisations 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 b 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 travelled to Broadway in the late 1920s to act in leading roles in such plays as Shaw's The Apple Cart and in the dramatisations 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.[1] 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".[5]

Following The Invisible Man, Universal Studios tried to typecast him in horror films, but he broke free, starting with the gleefully evil role of Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), then with his Academy Award-nominated performance as the conflicted corrupt US senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and the flexible French police Captain Renault in Casablanca (1942). In 1943, Rains played the title character in Universal's remake of Phantom of the Opera. Bette Davis named him her favourite co-star, and they made four films together, including Now, Voyager (1942) and Mr. Skeffington (1944). Rains became the first actor to receive a million dollar salary, playing Julius Caesar in Gabriel Pascal's lavish and unsuccessful version of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), made in Britain. In 1946, he played a refugee Nazi agent opposite Cary Grant and Casablanca co-star Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious. In 1949, he appeared in David Lean's The Passionate Friends.

His only singing and dancing role was in a television musical version of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin, with Van Johnson as the Piper. This 1957 NBC colour special, shown as a film rather than a live or videotaped programme, was highly successful with the public. Sold into syndication after its first telecast, it was repeated annually by many local US TV stations.

Rains remained a popular character actor in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in many films. Two of his well-known later screen roles were as Dryden, a cynical British diplomat in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and King Herod in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). The latter was his final film role.
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Tags: Actor (21), British (4), Died 1967 (3), Born 1889 (3), Male (2), Dashing (2), Deceased (2), Awesome (2), Cool (2), Died Age 77 (1), Should Have Won An Oscar (1), British Military (1), Died Aged 77 (1), Actors Who Make Every Movie Better (1), World War I Veteran (1), Oscar Nominated Actor (1), Wounded In Combat (1), Lead Actor (1), Supporting Actor (1), Scorpio (1)

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Actors with Most Oscar Nominations But Zero Wins (146 person items)

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Academy Awards nominated performances I've seen (446 person items)

" 1947 - NOMINEE Best Actor in a Supporting Role CLAUDE RAINS as Alexander Sebastian in NOTORIOUS 1946 | dir: Alfred Hitchcock 1944 - NOMINEE Best Actor in a Supporting Role CLAUDE RAINS as Captain Louis Renault in CASABLANCA 1942 | dir: Michael Curtiz 1940 - NOMINEE Best Actor in a Supporting Role CLAUDE RAINS as Senator Joseph Harrison "Joe" Paine in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 1939 | dir: Frank Capra "

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Fav Actors (103 person items)

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Batman (1940's) (18 movies items)

"Alfred Pennyworth!"

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My Favourite European Actors (203 person items)

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Oscars 1943 Winners (My Version) (23 movies items)

"Best Supporting Actor! Winner: Claude Rains, Casablanca! Nominees: William Bendix - Wake Island Walter Huston - Yankee Doodle Dandy Frank Morgan - Tortilla Flat Henry Travers - Mrs. Miniver"


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