Claude Rains

November 10, 1889 - May 30, 1967
Born in London, England, UK

Son of early motion picture actor Fredrick William Rains

Father of actress Jessica Raines

Four Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actor: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1940),
Casablanca (1944), Mr. Skeffington (1945) and Notorious (1947).
No wins. No justice in this world.

See Internet Movie Database Filmography

A Lot of Favorite Memories of Claude Rains

• As the brilliant but mentally-unbalanced scientist "Jack Griffin," suffering from the side effects of his invisibility formula (with secret ingredient "monocaine") in The Invisible Man (1933), screenplay by R.C. Sherriff, with (uncredited) Preston Sturges and Philip Wylie, based on the novel by H. G. Wells, and directed by James Whale. With Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers, Una O'Connor, Forrester Harvey. Holmes Herbert. E.E. Clive, Dudley Digges, Harry Stubbs, Donald Stuart, Merle Tottenham, Robert Adair, Ted Billings. Walter Brennan. Robert Brower, John Carradine, D'Arcy Corrigan, Dwight Frye , Violet Kemble Cooper, Crauford Kent, John Merivale , Monte Montague, Bob Reeves, Jack Richardson and Jameson Thomas. Great technical support throughout: original music by Heinz Roemheld, Paul Dupont, and W. Franke Harling — sadly uncredited, but used to great effect in other productions like the "Flash Gordon" serials; cinematography by Arthur Edeson; makeup by Jack P. Pierce; special effects by John P. Fulton. Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr..
  
  
• As "Lee Gentry," an insanely jealous attorney who murders his unfaithful girlfriend in Crime Without Passion (1934), written and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. With Margo, Paula Trueman, Whitney Bourne, Leslie Adams, Charles Kennedy, Stanley Ridges, Esther Dale, Greta Granstedt, Fuller Mellish, and writer/directors Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (as reporters)
  
  
• As "Paul Verin," a pacifist writer who is betrayed by his wife and his war-profiteer publisher, but finally takes melodramatic revenge, in Universal's The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934), directed by Edward Ludwig . With Joan Bennett (the wife), Lionel Atwill (the publisher), Henry O'Neill, Henry Armetta, Wallace Ford, Lawrence Grant, William B. Davidson, Lionel Belmore, Ted Billings, Harry Cording, Grace Cunard, Gilbert Emery, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Valerie Hobson, Doris Lloyd, Tom Ricketts, Rolfe Sedan, C. Montague Shaw, Josef Swickard and Edward Van Sloan. Remade in 1947 as one of Universal's "Inner Sanctum" features, Strange Confession, with Lon Chaney Jr. and J. Carrol Naish.
  
  
• As "Maximus," a phony music-hall mentalist who discovers he really has frightening clairvoyant powers, in The Evil Mind, (1934; original UK title: aka The Clairvoyant ), directed by Maurice Elvey. With Fay Wray, Mary Clare, Ben Field, Jane Baxter and Athole Stewart.
  
  
• As "John Jasper," a High Church opium eater who kills his beloved nephew because of a girl they both love, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), based on the (unfinished) novel by Charles Dickens, directed by Stuart Walker. With Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, Valerie Hobson, David Manners, Francis L. Sullivan, Zeffie Tilbury, Ethel Griffies, E.E. Clive, Walter Kingsford, Forrester Harvey, Veda Buckland, Elsa Buchanan, George Ernest, J.M. Kerrigan, Louise Carter, Harry Cording, D'Arcy Corrigan, Anne O'Neal, Will Geer and Walter Brennan.
  
  
• As the villainous "Earl of Hertford," seizing political power by controlling a look-alike pretender to the throne of England in The Prince and the Pauper (1937), based on the identity-change historical adventure by Mark Twain, directed by William Keighley. Starring Errol Flynn and Billy and Bobby Mauch, with Henry Stephenson, Barton MacLane, Alan Hale, Eric Portman, Lionel Pape, Halliwell Hobbes, Ivan F. Simpson, Montagu Love, Fritz Leiber, Elspeth Dudgeon, Forrester Harvey, Lester Matthews, Harry Cording, Robert Warwick, Rex Evans, Holmes Herbert, Lionel Belmore, Ian Wolfe, Ted Billings, Leyland Hodgson, Ottola Nesmith and Tom Ricketts.
  
  
• As "District Attorney Andrew J. 'Andy' Griffin," a politically-ambitious Southern lawyer who trumps up a murder charge (and stirs up a lynch mob) against an innocent man in the harrowing social-conscience drama They Won't Forget (1937), directed by Mervyn LeRoy. With Gloria Dickson, Edward Norris, Otto Kruger, Allyn Joslyn, Lana Turner, Elisha Cook Jr., Cy Kendall, Elisabeth Risdon, Trevor Bardette, Eddie Acuff, Frank Faylen, Leonard Mudie, Harry Davenport, Harry Beresford, Al Bridge, Earl Dwire, Henry Hall, Thomas E. Jackson and I. Stanford Jolley.
  
  
• As bad "Prince John," oppressor of the poor and usurper of the rightful throne of good King Richard, in Warner Bros. classic swashbuckling adventure The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. Starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone, with an unbeatable supportingcast including Patric Knowles, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale, Melville Cooper, Ian Hunter, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin, Montagu Love, Robert Warwick, Lester Matthews, Harry Cording, Lionel Belmore, D'Arcy Corrigan, Holmes Herbert, Leyland Hodgson, Michael Hordern, Olaf Hytten, Marten Lamont, Leonard Mudie, John Sutton and Trigger — as Maid Marion's horse!
  
  
• As "Detective Monty Phelan," a big city policeman who trails a boxer accused of murder to a Dead End in Arizona, in They Made Me a Criminal (1939), directed by Busby Berkeley! Starring John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and those lovable delinquents from Dead End — Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsly — plus May Robson, Gloria Dickson, John Ridgely, Barbara Pepper, Ward Bond, Robert Strange, Louis Jean Heydt, Irving Bacon and Clem Bevans.
  
  
• As the corrupt senior "Senator Joseph Harrison Paine," shamed by the selfless decency of a naive young colleague in the classic political fantasy Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), directed by Frank Capra. Rains was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film. With James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, H.B. Warner, Harry Carey, Astrid Allwyn, Ruth Donnelly, Grant Mitchell, Porter Hall, Pierre Watkin, Charles Lane, William Demarest, Stanley Andrews, Al Bridge, Jack Carson, Edmund Cobb, Dorothy Comingore, Gino Corrado, Clyde Dilson, Ann Doran, Byron Foulger, Frances Gifford, Mary Gordon, Lorna Gray, Harry Hayden, Louis Jean Heydt, Olaf Hytten, Lafe McKee, William Newell, Frank Puglia, Russell Simpson, Craig Stevens, Dub Taylor and Fred 'Snowflake' Toones.
  
  
• As "Don José Alvarez de Cordoba" in The Sea Hawk (1940), directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Errol Flynn and Brenda Marshall, with a boatload of memorable supporting players including Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Alan Hale, Henry Daniell, Una O'Connor, James Stephenson, Gilbert Roland, William Lundigan, Montagu Love, J.M. Kerrigan, David Bruce, Fritz Leiber, Francis McDonald, Pedro de Cordoba, Ian Keith, Jack La Rue, Halliwell Hobbes, Victor Varconi, Robert Warwick, Harry Cording, Edgar Buchanan, Leyland Hodgson, Frank Lackteen, Lester Matthews, Gerald Mohr, Leonard Mudie, Nestor Paiva and Jay Silverheels. With a stirring score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
  
  
• As the legendary stage actor/producer "David Belasco" in the theatrical biopic Lady with Red Hair (1940), based on the memoirs of famous actress Mrs. Leslie Carter, and directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Notable for its peek behind the scenes of a noble profession, for the wonderful lead performances of Miriam Hopkins and Rains as giants in their field, and for a fine supporting cast including Richard Ainley, Laura Hope Crews, Helen Westley, John Litel, Mona Barrie, Victor Jory, Cecil Kellaway, Fritz Leiber, Creighton Hale, John Hamilton, Russell Hicks, Halliwell Hobbes, Roger Imhof, Thomas E. Jackson, Doris Lloyd, John Ridgely, Alexis Smith, Cornel Wilde and Maris Wrixon
  
  
• As "Mr. Jordan," head collector in Heaven, doing his blessed best to fix a celestial screwup that sent a famous young prizefighter to his reward fifty years before his proper time, in the comedy-fantasy Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), directed by Alexander Hall. Starring Robert Montgomery and Evelyn Keyes, Rita Johnson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason, John Emery, Donald MacBride, Don Costello, Halliwell Hobbes, Benny Rubin, Lloyd Bridges and Chester Conklin.
  
  
• As "Sir John Talbot," devastated father of an innocent young man who is doomed by a terrible curse through no fault of his own, in Universal's mythic masterpiece, more bleak and cynical than any film noir, The Wolf Man (1941). A great script by Curt Siodmak, superb direction by George Waggner, and one of the finest casts in classic horror: Lon Chaney Jr., Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya, Bela Lugosi, Warren William , Ralph Bellamy, Patric Knowles, J.M. Kerrigan, Fay Helm, Forrester Harvey, Jessie Arnold, Caroline Cooke, Harry Cording, Margaret Fealy, Gibson Gowland, Leyland Hodgson, Olaf Hytten, Kurt Katch, La Riana, Connie Leon, Doris Lloyd, Ottola Nesmith, Eddie Polo, Ernie Stanton, Tom Stevenson, Harry Stubbs and Eric Wilton. Wonderful score by Hans J. Salter, Charles Previn and Frank Skinner, and the usual fabulous makeup we all expect from Jack P. Pierce.
  
  
• As the unprincipled but immensely likeable Vichy-government police official "Captain Louis Renault," shifting his politics with the prevailing wind, but finally leaning toward the cause of decency and justice, in Warner Bros.' wartime adventure classic Casablanca (1942), directed by Michael Curtiz. Rains was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film. Renault has many crowd-pleasing lines in the film, but his "Round up the usual suspects" is one of the most satisfying punchlines in cinema history. Rains is right at home among The Perfect Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S.Z. Sakall, Madeleine LeBeau, Dooley Wilson, Joy Page, John Qualen, Leonid Kinskey, Curt Bois, Louis V. Arco, Leon Belasco, Trude Berliner, Oliver Blake, Monte Blue, Gino Corrado, Franco Corsaro, Marcel Dalio, Helmut Dantine, George Dee, Jean Del Val, William Edmunds, Martin Garralaga, Gregory Gaye, Ilka Grüning, Creighton Hale, Olaf Hytten, Charles La Torre, George J. Lewis, Lou Marcelle, Michael Mark, George Meeker, Louis Mercier, Torben Meyer, Alberto Morin, Leo Mostovoy, Corinna Mura, Lotte Palfi Andor, Paul Porcasi, Frank Puglia, Georges Renavent, Dewey Robinson, Henry Rowland, Richard Ryen, Dan Seymour, Gerald Oliver Smith, Geoffrey Steele, Ludwig Stössel, Norma Varden , Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Leo White and Wolfgang Zilzer.
  
  
• As "Erik Claudin," a brilliant musician driven mad by horrible disfigurement and the theft of his compositions, haunting the catacombs under the Paris Opera House and committing vengeful murders, in Universal's musical thriller Phantom of the Opera (1943). A remake of Universal's silent 1925 masterpiece starring Lon Chaney, based on the novel by Gaston Leroux, and directed by Arthur Lubin. Co-starring Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster, with Edgar Barrier, Leo Carrillo, Jane Farrar, J. Edward Bromberg, Fritz Feld, Frank Puglia, Steven Geray, Hume Cronyn, Fritz Leiber, Miles Mander, Stanley Blystone, Wheaton Chambers, Lane Chandler, Cyril Delevanti, William Desmond, Hank Mann and Beatrice Roberts.
  
  
• As "Job Skeffington," the long-suffering husband of a selfish socialite (Bette Davis) who finally learns to love him in the soap-operatic Mr. Skeffington (1944). Directed by Vincent Sherman, from a screenplay by Julius & Philip Epstein. Rains was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for the third time, and Davis as Best Actress for the seventh (with two previous wins), in the 1944 Academy Awards. Supporting cast includes Walter Abel, George Coulouris, Robert Shayne, Peter Whitney, Halliwell Hobbes, Walter Kingsford, Molly Lamont, Ann Doran, Bess Flowers, William Forrest, Andrea King, Erskine Sanford and Minerva Urecal.
  
  
• As "John Stevenson," a complacent American suddenly confronted with an oppressive fascist takeover of the government, in the nightmarish political fantasy Strange Holiday, aka The Day After Tomorrow (1945), written and directed by Arch Oboler, based on his radio play. With Gloria Holden, Martin Kosleck, Helen Mack, Albert Bassermann, Tommy Cook, Bob Stebbins, Paul Hilton, Milton Kibbee, Walter White Jr., Wally Maher, Charles McAvoy, Priscilla Lyons, David Bradford , Griff Barnett, Edwin Max and Paul Dubov.
  
  
• As "Alexander Sebastian," an elegant Nazi dominated by his mother and betrayed by another woman, a spy who marries him to keep an eye on his activities for the FBI, in Notorious (1946), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Rains was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film. Starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, with Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schünzel, Moroni Olsen, Ivan Triesault, Alex Minotis, Wally Brown, Charles Mendl, Ricardo Costa, Eberhard Krumschmidt, Bea Benaderet, Bess Flowers, Gavin Gordon, Harry Hayden, Frederick Ledebur, George Lynn, Francis McDonald, Antonio Moreno,Lenore Ulric, Emmett Vogan and Alfred Hitchcock (drinking champagne at the party).
  
  
• As "Nick," The Devil himself, taking a personal interest in Hell's latest arrival, a gangster who's a dead ringer for an upright judge Nick wants to drag down to his level, in Angel on My Shoulder (1946), directed by Archie Mayo. Starring Paul Muni and Anne Baxter, with Onslow Stevens, Kurt Katch (terrific performance as Nick's unctuous toady), Noble Johnson (good part as a Trustee in Hell), George Cleveland, Erskine Sanford, Hardie Albright, James Flavin, Chester Clute, Jonathan Hale, Fritz Leiber, Addison Richards and Ben Welden.
  
  
• As "Victor Grandison," a popular radio crime solver who tries to get away with murder in the enthralling film noir The Unsuspected (1947), directed by Michael Curtiz. With Joan Caulfield , Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, Hurd Hatfield, Michael North, Fred Clark, Walter Baldwin and Jack Lambert.
  
  
• In the "The Man Who Liked Dickens" episode of the TV series Medallion Theatre (August 1, 1953).
  
  
• In five episodes of the TV dramatic suspense series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, hosted by Hitchcock:
  • As "John Fabian" in "And So Died Riabouchinska" (February 12, 1956)
    
  • As "Charles Gresham" in "The Cream of the Jest" (March 10, 1957)
    
  • As "Father Amian" in "The Horse Player" (February 22, 1959)
    
  • As "Andrew Thurgood" in "The Diamond Necklace" (March 14, 1961)
    
  • As "Leonard Eldridge" in "The Door Without a Key" (January 16, 1962)
  
  
• As "Mr. Brink," Death himself, captured up a tree and unable to do his regular job in an adaptation of the stage play "On Borrowed Time" on television's Hallmark Hall of Fame (November 17, 1957).
  
  
• As the corrupt "Mayor of Hamelin," foolishly trying not to pay the piper in the television musical production of The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957), directed by Bretaigne Windust. With Van Johnson, Lori Nelson, Jim Backus, Kay Starr, Stanley Adams, Oliver Blake, Rene Kroper, Carl Benton Reid, Amzie Strickland and Doodles Weaver.
  
  
• As "Professor George Edward Challenger," intrepid leader of an expedition in search of dinosaurs in The Lost World (1960), based on the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and directed by Irwin Allen. Willis O'Brien animated much more satisfying dinos in the silent version 35 years earlier, but the cast of this one is worth watching: Michael Rennie, Jill St. John, David Hedison, Fernando Lamas, Richard Haydn, Ray Stricklyn, Jay Novello, Vitina Marcus and Ian Wolfe.
  
  
• As "Professor Benson" in Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti (1961), directed by Antonio Margheriti. Released in US in 1963 as Battle of the Worlds. With Bill Carter, Maya Brent, Umberto Orsini, Jacqueline Derval, Carlo D'Angelo, Carol Danell and Renzo Palmer.
  
  
• As "Mr. Dryden" of the Arab Bureau, the man responsible for Lawrence's tranfer to special duty in Arabia, in the biographical adventure epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962), directed by David Lean. Starring Peter O'Toole, with Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Wolfit, Howard Marion-Crawford, Jack Gwillim, Hugh Miller, Robert Bolt, Barbara Cole, Captain John Crewdson, Basil Dignam, Kenneth Fortescue, Harry Fowler, Jack Hedley, Bert Holliday and David Lean (motorcyclist by Suez Canal).
  
  
• As "King Herod" in a star-packed dramatization of the life of Jesus Christ, The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Directed by George Stevens, with uncredited assistance from David Lean and Jean Negulesco. Starring Max von Sydow, with a cast of Biblical proportions including Michael Anderson Jr., Carroll Baker, Ina Balin, Pat Boone, Victor Buono, Richard Conte (Barabbas), Joanna Dunham (Mary Magdalene), José Ferrer, Van Heflin, Charlton Heston (John the Baptist), Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Janet Margolin, David McCallum (Judas Iscariot), Roddy McDowall, Dorothy McGuire (The Virgin Mary), Sal Mineo, Nehemiah Persoff, Sidney Poitier, Gary Raymond, Telly Savalas (Pontius Pilate), Joseph Schildkraut, Paul Stewart, Shelley Winters, Ed Wynn, John Abbott, Rodolfo Acosta, Michael Ansara, Robert Blake, Philip Coolidge, John Crawford, Frank DeKova, Cyril Delevanti, Jamie Farr, David Hedison, Russell Johnson, Mark Lenard, Robert Loggia, John Lupton, Frank Silvera, Abraham Sofaer, Harold Stone, Gene Roth, Richard Bakalyan, Celia Lovsky, Gil Perkins, John Pickard, Johnny Seven, John Wayne (Roman Guard) and Donald Pleasence (Satan).

Last revised May 9 2021 by George "E-gor" Chastain.

Maintained by George "E-gor" Chastain (e-mail: egorschamber@gmail.com)