Book description
Late in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film
journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution
as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and
his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude
Rains (1889--1967) to the stage and screen is remarkable. Rains's
difficulties in his formative years provided reserves of gravitas and
sensitivity, from which he drew inspiration for acclaimed performances
in The Invisible Man (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939),
Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and
other classic films. In Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, noted
Hollywood historian David J. Skal draws on more than thirty hours of
newly released Rains interviews to create the first full-length
biography of the actor who was nominated multiple times for an Academy
Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Skal's portrait of the gifted actor
also benefits from the insights of Jessica Rains, who provides
firsthand accounts of the enigmatic man behind her father's refined
screen presence and genteel public persona. As Skal shows, numerous
contradictions informed the life and career of Claude Rains. He
possessed an air of nobility and became an emblem of sophistication,
but he never shed the insecurities that traced back to his upbringing
in an abusive and poverty-stricken family. Though deeply
self-conscious about his short stature, Rains drew notorious ardor
from female fans and was married six times. His public displays of dry
wit and good humor masked inner demons that drove Rains to alcoholism
and its devastating consequences. Skal's layered depiction of Claude
Rains reveals a complex, almost inscrutable man whose nuanced
characterizations were, in no small way, based on the more shadowy
parts of his psyche. With unprecedented access to episodes from
Rains's private life, Skal tells the full story of the consummate
character actor of his generation. Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice,
gives voice to the struggles and innermost concerns that influenced
Rains's performances and helped him become a universally respected
Hollywood legend.
""Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice seeks to shine the
spotlight on one of the sharpest and most elegant stars of classical
Hollywood cinema.... Skal has presented and organized a treature trove
of material with methodical acuity. [A] lucid and informative
biography."--Scope" --
David J. Skal, the author of numerous books about film and popular
culture, including Hollywood Gothic and The Monster Show, lives in
Glendale, California. Jessica Rains, the only child of Claude Rains,
is a producer and actress who lives in Venice, CA.
