Claude Rains

Universal Studios wanted to cast Rains in the role of the sinister Dr. Praetorius in The Bride of Frankenstein but director James Whale insisted upon casting Ernest Thesiger and Rains lost out on the part.

Rains played the father of Lon Chaney, Jr. in the classic 1941 horror film The Wolf Man despite being several inches shorter and considerable pounds lighter than Chaney.

Rains appeared as a war crimes judge in the original Playhouse 90 production of Judgment at Nuremberg. When Judgment was filmed a few years later Rains' role went to Spencer Tracy.

Rains appeared in an episode of the police drama The Naked City entitled To Walk in Silence.

Rains appeared in an episode of Wagon Train entitled The Daniel Clay Story.

Rains appeared in five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Rains' only child was a daughter named Jessica born to him and fourth wife Francis Propper.

Rains appeared in two films with Humphrey Bogart: Casablanca and Passage to Marseilles.

Rains played the role of Chinese peasant Wang Lung in the original 1932 Broadway version of The Good Earth. When the movie was filmed the role of Wang Lung went to Paul Muni.

Rains was married six times to the following women: Isabel Jeams (1913-15) Marie Hemingway (1920-21) Beatriz Thomas (1924-35) Francis Propper (1935-56) Agi Jamber (1959-60) Rosemary Schride (1960-64) Rains' first five marriages ended in divorce. His sixth ended with the death of his wife.

Rains was 5 feet, 6 1/2 inches tall.

Rains appeared in three movies with Errol Flynn: The Prince and the Pauper, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and The Sea Hawk.

Rains' final on-screen appearance was as King Herod in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Rains has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 6400 Hollywood Boulevard.

Rains made his stage debut in Great Britain at the age of 11.

Rains is buried in Red Hill Cemetary in Moultonborough, New Hampshire.

Rains retired to the town of Laconia, New Hampshire in 1965 and died there two years later.

Rains won a Tony Award for Best Actor in 1951 for his performance in Darkness at Noon.

Rains was paid one million dollars to star in the 1946 film Caesar and Cleopatra. He was the first actor to receive a million dollar payday for appearing in a single film.

Rains first came to America in 1913 but returned to England when World War I broke out.

Rains was the victim of a poison gas attack in World War I which resulted in the partial loss of vision in one eye.

Rains was the son of a stage actor named Frederick Rains.

Rains became a naturalized United States citizen in 1939.

Rains signed with Warner Brothers after leaving Universal in the late 1930's. At Warners he received better and more varied roles.

Rains left Universal Studios because they wanted to make him a horror star along the lines of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and he didn't want to be typecast.

In The Invisible Man, Rains' face was only shown at the end of the film.

Rains' first Hollywood film was The Invisible Man released in 1933.

Nominated four times for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a film. In 1940 for Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, in 1944 for Capt. Louis Renault in Casablanca, in 1945 for Job Skeffington in Mr. Skeffington, and in 1947 for Alex Sebastian in Notorious.