Claude Rains

The son of a stage actor, Rains started in London theater in the 1900s and rose to teach at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts before crossing to Broadway in the late 1920s. His film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in The Invisible Man (1933) launched a run through the Golden Age: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Wolf Man, Casablanca, Kings Row, Phantom of the Opera, Notorious. Four times nominated for Best Supporting Actor, he never won the Oscar but took a Tony in 1951 for Darkness at Noon. He kept working into the 1960s — Mr. Dryden in Lawrence of Arabia, a final tu…