Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person

William Claude Rains (10 November 1889Template:Spaced ndash30 May 1967) was a British and American actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. He was the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and is considered one of the screen's great character stars who played cultured villains during the Golden Age of Hollywood.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="McFarlane">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} From McFarlane's Encyclopedia of British Film. London: Methuen/BFI, 2003, p. 545</ref>

The son of a stage actor, Rains began acting on stage in his native London in the 1900s. He became a leading thespian on the West End, and an acting teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He moved to the United States in the late 1920s and became a successful Broadway star, before making his American film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in The Invisible Man (1933). He went on to play prominent roles in such big screen production as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Wolf Man (1941), Casablanca (1942), Kings Row (1942), Phantom of the Opera (1943) and Notorious (1946).

In 1951, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Darkness at Noon. He continued to work as a prominent character actor in films, notably as Mr. Dryden in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and his final role in the Biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

In 1960, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Richard Chamberlain described him as "one of the finest actors of the 20th century," while Bette Davis considered him one of her favorite co-stars.

Early lifeEdit

William Claude Rains was born on 10 November 1889 at 26 Tregothnan Road in Clapham, London.<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref> His parents were Emily Eliza (née Cox) and stage actor Frederick William Rains.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He lived in the slums of London.<ref name="Soister pg.1">Soister, p. 1</ref> Rains was one of twelve children, of whom all but four died while still infants. His mother took in boarders in order to support the family. Rains grew up with a Cockney accent and a speech impediment.<ref name="Harmetz p. 147">Harmetz, p. 147</ref>

File:Captain Claude Rains.jpg
Rains in his captain's uniform during the First World War

Because his father was an actor, the young Rains would spend time in theatres and was surrounded by actors and stagehands. There he observed actors as well as the day-to-day running of a theatre. Rains made his stage debut at age 10 in the play Sweet Nell of Old Drury at the Haymarket Theatre, so that he could run around onstage as part of the production. He slowly worked his way up in the theatre, becoming a call boy (telling actors when they were due on stage) at His Majesty's Theatre and later a prompter, stage manager, understudy, and then moving on from smaller parts with good reviews to larger, better parts.

File:Actor, Claude Rains aged 23.jpg
A 23-year-old Rains in one of his early theatre roles, 1912

Early career and military serviceEdit

Rains moved to the United States in 1912 owing to the opportunities that were being offered in the New York theatres. However, at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he returned to England to serve in the London Scottish Regiment,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> alongside fellow actors Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman, Herbert Marshall and Cedric Hardwicke.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In November 1916, Rains was involved in a gas attack at Vimy, which resulted in his permanently losing 90 percent of the vision in his right eye as well as suffering vocal cord damage.<ref name=BFI>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He never returned to combat but continued to serve with the Transport Workers Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, in which he was commissioned as a temporary lieutenant on 9 May 1917.<ref>The London Gazette, Supplement 30074, 15 May 1917, p. 4783</ref> In March 1918, he was promoted to temporary captain,<ref>The London Gazette, Supplement 30685, 14 May 1918, p. 5831</ref> the rank he held at the end of the war.<ref name=BFI/> On 8 October 1918 he was appointed as adjutant,<ref>The London Gazette, Supplement 31030, 22 November 1918, p. 13898</ref> and continued to serve in that role until March 1919.<ref>The London Gazette, Supplement 31256, 28 March 1919, p. 4111</ref>

After his return to civilian life, Rains remained in England and continued to develop his acting talents. These talents were recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the founder of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Tree told Rains that in order to succeed as an actor, he would have to get rid of his Cockney accent and speech impediment. With this in mind, Tree paid for the elocution books and lessons that Rains needed to help him change his voice. Rains eventually shed his accent and speech impediment after practising every day. His daughter Jessica, when describing her father's voice, said, "The interesting thing to me was that he became a different person. He became a very elegant man, with a really extraordinary Mid-Atlantic accent. It was 'his' voice, nobody else spoke like that, half American, half English and a little Cockney thrown in."<ref name=extras>Template:Cite interview</ref> Soon after changing his accent, he became recognised as one of the leading stage actors in London. At age 29, he made his film debut, playing the role of Clarkis in his only silent film, the British film Build Thy House (1920).

During his early years, Rains taught at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). John Gielgud and Charles Laughton were among his students. In an interview for Turner Classic Movies, Gielgud fondly remembered Rains:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

I learnt a great deal about acting from this gentleman. Claude Rains was one of my teachers at RADA. In fact he was one of the best and most popular teachers there. He was extremely attractive and needless to say, all the girls in my class were hopelessly in love with him. He had piercing dark eyes and a beautifully throaty voice, although he had, like Marlene Dietrich, some trouble with the letter 'R'. He lacked inches and wore lifts to his shoes to increase his height. Stocky but handsome, Rains had broad shoulders and a mop of thick brown hair which he brushed over one eye. But by the time I first met him in the 1920s he was already much in demand as a character actor in London. I found him enormously helpful and encouraging to work with. I was always trying to copy him in my first years as an actor, until I decided to imitate Noël Coward instead.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

CareerEdit

In London theatre, he achieved success in the title role of John Drinkwater's play Ulysses S. Grant, the follow-up to the same playwright's Abraham Lincoln. Rains portrayed Faulkland in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals, presented at London's Lyric Theatre in 1925. He returned to New York City in 1927 and appeared in nearly 20 Broadway roles, in plays which included George Bernard Shaw's The Apple Cart and dramatisations of The Constant Nymph and Pearl S. Buck's novel The Good Earth (as a Chinese farmer).

File:Claude Rains Broadway 1929.jpeg
Rains with Mary Kennedy in Camel Through the Needle's Eye on Broadway, New York City, 1929

Although he had played the single supporting role in the silent, Build Thy House (1920),<ref name="McFarlane"/> Rains came relatively late to film acting. While working for the Theatre Guild, he was offered a screen test with Universal Pictures in 1932. His screen test for A Bill of Divorcement (1932) for a New York representative of RKO was a failure but, according to some accounts, led to his being cast in the title role of James Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) after his screen test and unique voice were inadvertently overheard from the next room.<ref name="Harmetz p. 147"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His agent, Harold Freedman, was a family friend of Carl Laemmle, who controlled Universal Pictures at the time, and had been acquainted with Rains in London and was keen to cast him in the role.<ref name= "Skal48">Skal and Rains Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, pp. 48-9</ref>Template:Sfn According to Rains' daughter, this was the only film of his he ever saw. He also did not go to see the rushes of the day's filming "because he told me, every time he went he was horrified by his huge face on the huge screen, that he just never went back again."

Rains signed a long-term contract with Warner Bros. on 27 November 1935, with Warner able to exercise the right to loan him to other studios and Rains having a potential income of up to $750,000 over seven years.<ref>David J. Skal, with Jessica Rains Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2008, pp. 61-62</ref> He played the villainous role of Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Roddy McDowall once asked Rains if he had intentionally lampooned Bette Davis in his performance as Prince John, and Rains only smiled "an enigmatic smile." Rains later revealed to his daughter that he had enjoyed playing the prince as a homosexual, by using subtle mannerisms. Rains later credited the film's co-director Michael Curtiz with teaching him the more understated requirements of film acting, or "what not to do in front of a camera."<ref>Harmetz, p. 190</ref> On loan to Columbia Pictures, he portrayed a corrupt but honourable U.S. senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. For Warner Bros., he played Dr. Alexander Tower, who commits murder-suicide to spare his daughter a life of insanity in Kings Row (1942) and the cynical police chief Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca (also 1942). On loan again, Rains played the title character in Universal's remake of Phantom of the Opera (1943).

In her 1987 memoir, This 'N That, Bette Davis stated that Rains (with whom she shared the screen four times in Juarez; Now, Voyager; Mr. Skeffington; and Deception) was her favorite co-star.<ref>Davis and Herskowitz 1987, p. 26</ref> Rains became the first actor to receive a million-dollar salary when he portrayed Julius Caesar in a large-budget but unsuccessful version of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), filmed in Britain. Shaw apparently chose him for the part, although Rains intensely disliked Gabriel Pascal, the film's director and producer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Rains followed it with Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946) as a refugee Nazi agent opposite Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Back in Britain, he appeared in David Lean's The Passionate Friends (1949).

His only singing and dancing role was in a 1957 television musical version of Robert Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin, with Van Johnson as the Piper. The NBC colour special, broadcast 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 active as a character actor in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing in films and as a guest in television series. He played the ventriloquist Fabian on Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 1 Episode 20 "And So Died Riabouchinska" which aired on February 10, 1956, and again, in 1957, Season 2 Episode 24 in "The cream of the jest" as a failing drunk actor. He ventured into science fiction for Irwin Allen's The Lost World (1960) and Antonio Margheriti's Battle of the Worlds (1961). Two of his late screen roles were as Dryden, a cynical British diplomat in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and King Herod in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), his last film. In CBS's Rawhide, he portrayed Alexander Langford, an attorney in a ghost town, in the episode "Incident of Judgement Day" (1963).

He additionally made several audio recordings, narrating some Bible stories for children on Capitol Records, and reciting Richard Strauss's setting for narrator and piano of Tennyson's poem Enoch Arden, with the piano solos performed by Glenn Gould. He starred in The Jeffersonian Heritage, a 1952 series of 13 half-hour radio programmes recorded by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters and syndicated for commercial broadcast on a sustaining (i.e., commercial-free) basis.<ref>"The Jeffersonian Heritage," Broadcasting-Telecasting, 8 September 1952, 36 (trade advertisement).</ref>

ReceptionEdit

Jessica Rains remembered her father's work ethic:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

He was interested in the process (of film). He loved acting. When he came to California to do a film, I had to "hear him his lines" as he drove me to school every morning, Template:Convert. He knew everybody's part. He knew the whole script before he came out (to film). I don't think many people did that.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Bette Davis in an interview with Dick Cavett said about Rains:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Well, of course he petrified me. The first time I played with him was in Carlotta (Juarez), and I had to make an entrance [into] the King of France's domain for a rehearsal, and he's playing the King of France (N.B. The character is actually the Emperor of the French Napoleon III) in rehearsal. As all of us "other era people," we don't just run through lines and say "turn the camera", we rehearse beforehand...Anyway Claude and I couldn't, and he was the King of France who loathed Carlotta, and I was a kid and petrified of Mr. Rains, so I thought he hated me. I didn't know he was playing the character. I thought, he thinks I just stink! What am I going to do? Eventually we worked together quite a lot and became really great friends, really great friends.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Davis later went on to describe him: "Claude was witty, amusing and beautiful, really beautiful, thoroughly enchanting to be with and brilliant." She also praised his performances: "He was marvelous in Deception and was worth the whole thing as the picture wasn't terribly good, but he was so marvelous in the restaurant scene where he's talking about all the food...brilliant, and of course in Mr. Skeffington he was absolutely brilliant as the husband, just brilliant."

Richard Chamberlain worked with Rains in what would be his second-to-last film, Twilight of Honor. In 2009, Chamberlain recorded a tribute to the actor when Rains was featured as Turner Classic Movies' Star of the Month:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

Claude Rains has to be considered one of the finest actors of the 20th century. As soon as you hear that marvelous, unmistakable voice of honey mixed with gravel, he becomes instantly recognizable. And that scornful right eyebrow which could freeze an adversary faster than and more effectively than any physical threat. He stood at a mere 5′6″, yet his enormous talent and immense stage presence made him a giant among his colleagues. During a stage and film career that spanned six decades, Rains encompassed some of the most memorable and exciting characters ever created by an actor. Villains were a Rains specialty, particularly those of a suave and sarcastic nature; and yet when the role called for it, Rains could be remarkably moving and even add a touch of pathos without losing any of his effectiveness.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

In Twilight of Honor Rains played a retired lawyer acting as a mentor to Chamberlain's character. Reminiscing about his work with Rains, Chamberlain said:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

He was in his seventies then and in failing health, yet he was charming and totally professional on the set. It was clear to us that he loved practicing his craft; he dazzled us all. Claude was an extremely private man—he never discussed his humble beginnings, his six marriages. But get him into a conversation about acting, and he opened up with delightful anecdotes and fascinating stories about his long life as a thespian.

One day on the set I mentioned to him that Notorious was one of my favorite films, and Claude related with amusement the filming of a particular scene with Ingrid Bergman. Rains was a very small man and Bergman was quite tall, so in order to shoot them in close-up together (in the key scene) the resourceful Alfred Hitchcock had a ramp installed, so as Rains approaches Bergman on camera he appears taller than his co-star. Claude found this ramp business a bit embarrassing and very funny.

I got another taste of Claude's witty nature shooting a scene in his [next-to-last] film, in which he had a long piece of dialogue. Generally he had no problem remembering his lines despite getting along in years. However, there was one particularly long scene shot late at night where he was having a lot of trouble with the dialogue, and kept making excuses. And finally he paused and said with a sheepish look "Alibi Ike, good old Alibi Ike" ("Alibi Ike" being an expression based on a 1935 film of the same name, in which the lead character has a penchant for making up excuses). Of course in the finished film he played the scene flawlessly, as he always did. Claude Rains: truly a class act, on and off screen.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Many years after Rains had gone to Hollywood and become a well-known film actor, John Gielgud commented, tongue-in-cheek:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

There was somebody who taught me a very great deal at drama school, and I am certainly grateful to him for his kindness and consideration. His name was Claude Rains. I don't know whatever happened to him. I think he failed, and had to go to America.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> {{#if:|{{#if:|}}

}}

{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Blockquote with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | author | by | char | character | cite | class | content | multiline | personquoted | publication | quote | quotesource | quotetext | sign | source | style | text | title | ts }}

Gielgud later went on to recollect a time when he was in New York and in the audience during an event that included a focus on Bette Davis: "A number of clips from many of her most successful films were shown and I was particularly delighted, when, as soon as Claude Rains appeared in the close-up of one of the clips, the whole audience burst into a great wave of applause."

Bette Davis often cited Rains as one of her favorite actors and colleagues. Gielgud said that he once wrote that "The London stage suffered a great loss when Claude Rains deserted it for motion pictures," and that he later added, "but when I see him now on the screen and remember him, I must admit that the London stage's loss was the cinema's gain. And the striking virtuosity that I witnessed as a young actor is now there for audiences everywhere to see for all time. I'm so glad of that."

Personal life and deathEdit

File:Debbie Reynolds Auction - Claude Rains "Captain Louis Renault" ivory military suit from "Casablanca" (5851596823) (2).jpg
The ivory military uniform Rains wore in Casablanca was sold at auction in 2011 for $55,000.<ref name="DR Auction"/>

Rains became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939.

He married six times and was divorced from the first five of his wives: Isabel Jeans (married 1913–1915); Marie Hemingway (to whom Rains was married for less than a year in 1920); Beatrix Thomson (1924–8 April 1935); Frances Propper (9 April 1935 – 1956); and the classical pianist Agi Jambor (4 November 1959 – 1960). In 1960, he married Rosemary Clark Schrode, to whom he was married until her death on 31 December 1964. His only child, Jennifer, was the daughter of Frances Propper. As an actress, she is known as Jessica Rains.<ref>Skal and Rains, p. 104</ref>

He acquired the Template:Convert Stock Grange Farm, built in 1747 in West Bradford Township, Pennsylvania (just outside Coatesville), in 1941. The farm became one of the "great prides" of his life.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Here, he became a "gentleman farmer" and could relax and enjoy farming life with his then wife (Frances) churning the butter, their daughter collecting the eggs, with Rains himself ploughing the fields and cultivating the vegetable garden. He spent much of his time between film takes reading up on agricultural techniques to try when he got home. He sold the farm when his marriage to Propper ended in 1956; the building now, as then, is still referred to by locals as "Rains' Place".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rains spent his final years in Sandwich, New Hampshire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In his final years, he decided to write his memoirs and engaged journalist Jonathan Root to assist him. Rains' declining health delayed their completion and, with Root's death in March 1967, the project was never completed. A chronic alcoholic, Rains died from cirrhosis of the liver, having an abdominal hemorrhage in Laconia on 30Template:NbspMay 1967, aged 77.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His daughter said, "And, just like most actors, he died waiting for his agent to call."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was buried at the Red Hill Cemetery in Moultonborough, New Hampshire. He designed his own tombstone which reads "All things once, Are things forever, Soul, once living, lives forever".

In 2010, many of Rains' personal effects were put into an auction at Heritage Auctions, including his 1951 Tony award, rare posters, letters and photographs. Also included in the auction were many volumes of his private leather-bound scrapbooks which contained many of his press cuttings and reviews from the beginning of his career. The majority of the items were used to help David J. Skal write his book on Rains, An Actor's Voice. In 2011, the ivory military uniform (complete with medals) he wore as Captain Renault in Casablanca was put up for auction when noted actress and film historian Debbie Reynolds sold her collection of Hollywood costumes and memorabilia which she had amassed as a result of the 1970 MGM auction.<ref name="DR Auction">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Theatre creditsEdit

Rains starred in multiple plays and productions over the course of his career, playing a variety of leading and supporting parts. As his film career began to flourish, he found less time to perform in the theatre in both England and America.

Year Title Role(s) Venue Notes Ref.
1900 Sweet Nell of Old Drury Haymarket Theatre Stage debut, aged 10 as an "unbilled child extra "running around a fountain."
1901 Herod His Majesty's Theatre Unbilled
1904 Last of the Dandies Winkles Rains' debut speaking role in the theatre citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1911 The Gods of the Mountain Thahn Haymarket Theatre Shared role with Reginald Owen
1912-13 Typhoon Omayi First heavy character role <ref name=":0" />
1913 The Green Cockatoo Grasset Aldwych Theatre Also stage manager
1919 Reparation Ivan Petrovitch St. James's Theatre Also stage manager
Uncle Ned Mears Lyceum Theatre Marked Rains' return to the stage after being wounded in WWI
1919-20 The Jest Prince's Theatre, Bristol <ref name=":0" />
1920 Julius Caesar Casca St. James's Theatre
1921-22 Will Shakespeare Shaftesbury Theatre <ref name=":0" />
1922 The Bat Billy St. James's Theatre <ref name=":0" />
1922-23 The Rumour Globe Theatre <ref name=":0" />
Pictures from the Insects' Life Lepidopterist, Parasite, Chief Engineer Regent Theatre <ref name=":0" />
1923 Robert E. Lee David Peel <ref name=":0" />
Good Luck Earl of Trenton Theatre Royal, Drury Lane <ref name=":0" />
Reparation Royal Academy of Dramatic Art As director <ref name=":0" />
1925 The Rivals Faulkland Lyric Hammersmith <ref name=":0" />
1926 The Government Inspector The Inspector Gaiety Theatre Professional debut of his RADA student, Charles Laughton
1926 Made in Heaven Martin Walmer Everyman Theatre, London Rains' last appearance on the London Stage.
1927 The Constant Nymph Roberto Selwyn Theatre Replacement, Broadway debut citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Lally Lally Greenwich Village Theatre citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Out of the Sea Arthur Logris Eltinge Theatre <ref name=":2" />
1929 The Camel Through the Needle's Eye Joseph Vilim Martin Beck Theatre, Guild Theatre <ref name=":1" />
1929-30 The Game of Love and Death Lazare Carnot Guild Theatre <ref name=":1" />
1930 The Apple Cart Proteus Martin Beck Theatre <ref name=":1" />
Alvin Theatre
1931 Miracle at Verdun Heydner, Messenger, Lamparenne Martin Beck Theatre <ref name=":1" />
He Elevator Man Guild Theatre <ref name=":2" />
1932 The Moon in the Yellow River Dobelle <ref name=":2" />
Too True to Be Good The Elder <ref name=":2" />
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head Paul Verin Broadhurst Theatre <ref name=":2" />
The Good Earth Wang Lung Guild Theatre <ref name=":1" />
1933 American Dream Ezekial Bell <ref name=":2" />
1951 Darkness at Noon Rubashov Alvin Theatre Won Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play <ref name=":2" />
Royale Theatre <ref name=":2" />
1954 The Confidential Clerk Sir Claude Mulhammer Morosco Theatre <ref name=":1" />
1956 Night of the Auk Dr. Bruner Playhouse Theatre <ref name=":2" />

FilmographyEdit

FilmEdit

Year Title Role Director Notes
1920 Build Thy House Clarkis Template:Sortname Film debut
1933 The Invisible Man Dr. Jack Griffin/The Invisible Man Template:Sortname
1934 Crime Without Passion Lee Gentry Template:Sortname, Charles MacArthur
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head Paul Verin Template:Sortname
1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood John Jasper Template:Sortname
The Clairvoyant Maximus Template:Sortname
The Last Outpost John Stevenson Template:Sortname, Charles Barton
Scrooge Jacob Marley Henry Edwards Uncredited
1936 Hearts Divided Napoleon Bonaparte Template:Sortname
Anthony Adverse Marquis Don Luis Template:Sortname
1937 Stolen Holiday Stefan Orloff Template:Sortname
The Prince and the Pauper Earl of Hertford Template:Sortname
They Won't Forget District Attorney Andrew J. "Andy" Griffin Template:Sortname
1938 White Banners Paul Ward Template:Sortname
Gold is Where You Find It Colonel Christopher "Chris" Ferris Template:Sortname
The Adventures of Robin Hood Prince John
Four Daughters Adam Lemp
1939 They Made Me a Criminal Detective Monty Phelan Template:Sortname
Juarez Emperor Louis Napoleon III Template:Sortname
Sons of Liberty Haym Salomon Template:Sortname Two-reel short
Daughters Courageous Jim Masters
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Senator Joseph Harrison Paine Template:Sortname Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Four Wives Adam Lemp Template:Sortname
1940 Saturday's Children Mr. Henry Halevy Template:Sortname
The Sea Hawk Don José Álvarez de Córdoba Template:Sortname
Lady with Red Hair David Belasco Template:Sortname
1941 Four Mothers Adam Lemp Template:Sortname
Here Comes Mr. Jordan Mr. Jordan Template:Sortname
The Wolf Man Sir John Talbot Template:Sortname
1942 Kings Row Dr. Alexander Tower Template:Sortname
Moontide Nutsy Template:Sortname
Now, Voyager Dr. Jaquith Template:Sortname
Casablanca Captain Louis Renault Template:Sortname Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1943 Forever and a Day Ambrose Pomfret Template:Sortname
(sequence with Rains)
Phantom of the Opera Erique Claudin/The Phantom of the Opera Template:Sortname
1944 Passage to Marseille Captain Freycinet Template:Sortname
Mr. Skeffington Job Skeffington Template:Sortname Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1945 Strange Holiday John Stevenson Arch Oboler
This Love of Ours Joseph Targel Template:Sortname
Caesar and Cleopatra Julius Caesar Template:Sortname
1946 Notorious Alexander Sebastian Template:Sortname Nominated- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Angel on My Shoulder Nick Template:Sortname
Deception Alexander Hollenius Template:Sortname
1947 The Unsuspected Victor Grandison Template:Sortname
1949 The Passionate Friends Howard Justin Template:Sortname
Rope of Sand Arthur "Fred" Martingale Template:Sortname
Song of Surrender Elisha Hunt Template:Sortname
1950 The White Tower Paul DeLambre Template:Sortname
Where Danger Lives Frederick Lannington Template:Sortname
1951 Sealed Cargo Captain Skalder Template:Sortname
1952 The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By Kees Popinga Template:Sortname
1956 Lisbon Aristides Mavros Template:Sortname
1959 This Earth Is Mine Philippe Rambeau Template:Sortname
1960 The Lost World Professor George Edward Challenger Template:Sortname
1961 Battle of the Worlds Professor Benson Template:Sortname
1962 Lawrence of Arabia Mr. Dryden Template:Sortname
1963 Twilight of Honor Art Harper Template:Sortname
1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told Herod the Great Template:Sortname

TelevisionEdit

Year Title Role Notes
1953 Medallion Theatre 2 episodes
1954 Omnibus Father Episode: "The Confidential Clerk"
1956 Kraft Television Theatre Narrator Episode: "A Night to Remember"
The Alcoa Hour Paul Westman Episode:"The President"
The Kaiser Aluminum Hour Creon Episode: "Antigone"
Eye on New York Dr. Bruner Episode: "Night of the Auk"
1957 On Borrowed Time Mr. Brink TV movie
The Pied Piper of Hamelin Mayor of Hamelin
1956-62 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Various roles 5 episodes
1959 Once Upon a Christmas Time John Woodcutter TV movie
Playhouse 90 Judge Haywood Episode: "Judgment at Nuremberg"
1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame High Lama Episode: "Shangri-La"
Naked City John Winfield Weston Episode: "To Walk in Silence"
Mel-O-Toons Narrator (voice) Episode: "David and Goliath"
1962 Wagon Train Judge Daniel Clay Episode: "The Daniel Clay Story"
Sam Benedict Thonis Jundelin Episode: "Nor Practice Makes Perfect"
1962-63 The DuPont Show of the Week Colonel, Baron van der Zost 2 episodes
1963 Rawhide Alexander Longford Episode: "Incident of Judgement Day"
1963-65 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Mr. Fare, Valentin 2 episodes
1964 Dr. Kildare Edward Fredericks Episode: "Why Won't Anyone Listen?"
The Reporter John Vance Episode: "A Time to Be Silent"

Radio appearancesEdit

Year Programme Episode/source
1949 Ford Theatre The Horn Blows at Midnight
1952 Cavalcade of America Three Words<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref>

DiscographyEdit

Year Title Recording Company
1946 The Christmas Tree Mercury Childcraft Records
1948 Bible Stories for Children Capitol Records
1950 Builders of America Columbia Masterworks
citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>||David and Goliath||Capitol Records

1957<ref>Template:Discogs release</ref> The Song of Songs and Heloise and Abelard Caedmon Records
1960 Remember The Alamo Noble Records
1962 Enoch Arden Columbia Masterworks

Awards and nominationsEdit

Academy AwardsEdit

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1939 Best Supporting Actor Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Template:Nom <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1943 Casablanca Template:Nom <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1944 Mr. Skeffington Template:Nom <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1946 Notorious Template:Nom <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Drama League AwardsEdit

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1951 Distinguished Performance Award Darkness at Noon Template:Won <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Grammy AwardsEdit

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1962 Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (Other Than Comedy) Enoch Arden Template:Nom <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Online Film & Television Association AwardsEdit

Year Honor Result Ref.
2023 Film Hall of Fame: Actors Template:Won <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Tony AwardsEdit

Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.
1951 Best Actor in a Play Darkness at Noon Template:Won <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

See alsoEdit

Template:Portal

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

General sourcesEdit

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

Template:Sister project Template:Sister project

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1={{{id}}}|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm{{{id}}}/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if:   {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: {{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source={{{id}}}|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

| [https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/{{#if:

 | {{{id}}}
 | Template:First word
 }} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at the Internet Broadway DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck{{#ifeq:0|0|{{#if:||}}}}

| {{IBDB name}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.{{#ifeq:0|0|}}

}}

Template:Navboxes

Template:Authority control