Talk:Claude Rains/Archive 1

Gay?
I read recently that he was gay. This doesn't seem to sit comfortably with his 6 (!) marriages. Is there a citation about this aspect of his life? JackofOz 03:44, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I’ve never heard that, and like you said that doesn’t really make much sense considering he was married so many times, if anything that would make him bisexual not gay, but I’ve never heard anything like that it’s probably just an unsubstantiated rumour… —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.116.180.169 (talk) 19:28, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Anecdotal to be sure, but I met Claude Rains on the streets of Paris in December, 1963. He definitely wanted sex with me, a young man of 16, and bolstered his case by mentioning that a lot of Hollywood stars came to Paris for their "specialized sexual interests." The terms "gay" and "bisexual were not in vogue at the time. He mentioned in particular Anthony Perkins, whom I knew from "Psycho."

Rains schooled me in his name, which I did not recognize. He said it might someday be of interest whom I had met that drizzly Paris evening. While 16-year-olds are not adept at guessing age, I knew he was an older gentleman, though I realize now that he was in his 70s. He certainly did not mention any wives! As an inducement for sex, he offered to introduce me to a friend, Bridgitte Bardot; he suggested we take his light blue Peaugot 404, parked at curbside, to go meet her. It was an interesting evening.... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.141.31.82 (talk) 12:36, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Role in "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
The Career section of the article says that he played "King Herod", with a link to Herod Antipas. However, the Filmography section says he played "Herod the Great", Antipas' father. Unless he played both parts, one of these needs correcting. EALacey 21:46, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

There are 2 dates in the article for his death, 1964 and 1967, I don't know which one is the right one, and I'm not good at editting these things. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.177.0.191 (talk) 02:02, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Popular Culture
I restored the paragraph on popular culture, deleted by Treybien on 25th October 2007. It is of note here, that his name lives on in the culture of a younger generation than those who will rememeber his work. Trenwith (talk) 19:59, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Other Appearances
An excellent addition to this page, in addition to the filmography, would be Theatre (Plays) and Television appearances. I will start with one - a television appearance: He was the lead character, a cunning thief, in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode titled, "The Diamond Necklace" Relguk (talk) 15:57, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Missing movie
Didn't Claude Rains play the part of a professor in a remake of "The Lost World"?AT Kunene (talk) 12:51, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
 * ? It's listed in the filmography: 1960's The Lost World. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:28, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Early Life in London
The description of Rains' early life has been taken directly from the foreword -- written by Rains' daughter, Jennifer (Jessica) -- to the book by John T. Soister: 'Claude Rains -- A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference'. The Wikipedia description reads: "His parents were Emily Eliza (née Cox) and the stage actor Frederick William Rains. He lived in the slums(1) of London, and, in his own words, on "the wrong side of the river Thames"(2). Rains was one of twelve children, all but three dying of malnutrition when still infants(4). His mother took in boarders in order to support the family(3). According to his daughter, he grew up with "a very serious Cockney accent(5) and a speech impediment" which took the form of a stutter, which caused him to call himself "Willie Wains". His native accent was so strong that his daughter could not understand a word he said when he used it to sing old Cockney songs to her or purposely used it to playfully annoy her." However, I feel that Jennifer has incorrectly painted a picture of 'humble origins' in order to dramatise her father's rise to stardom. The facts, however, do not support this 'rags-to-riches' tale.

(Emily Eliza Cox was my 2nd great aunt, so I have researched and am very familiar with the family history.) First, I disagree strongly with (1)"He lived in the slums of London". When Frederick William Rains (Claude's father) married Emily Cox in 1884, he was an 'organ builder', a respectable trade carried on from his father-in-law. The couple lived in Stockwell, a relatively well-off area of south London, far from the slums of the East End of London.

When Claude was born, they lived in Clapham, again a relatively prosperous area. The street in which they lived consisted of middle/lower-middle class families with their occupations in the 1891 Census including 'insurance clerk, school governess, journalist, teacher, commercial clerk' etc. Others were 'living on own means' -- a way of denoting that they did not need to work as they had sufficient savings accumulated. Several of the households employed servants.

In 1901, the family were living in Fulham (2)(north of the Thames), an even more affluent area. Claude was then aged 11, and the two daughters had also been born. They did have a boarder, a 'builders manager' -- but (3)this was quite common when there was a spare room in a household, and does not signify a 'poor' family by any means.

The 1911 Census shows all the family still living together in Camberwell, a 'middle class' area, and Fred Rains is described as a 'Producer & Stage Manager of Moving Pictures'. 21-year-old Claude was an 'Assistant Stage Manager at Haymarket Theatre'. (4)The Census record also shows that 4 children had been born alive (not 12!) but that 1 (not 9!) had died -- the cause would not have been "malnutrition" as this family would not have wanted for food at any time.

Although I'm sure Claude would have been able to mimic a Cockney(5) accent (specifically from London's East End), his own accent, having been raised in reasonably affluent south London, would have been nowhere near as strong naturally. Born in Los Angeles and raised on the farm in Pennsylvania, Jennifer would have found most British accents difficult to pick up. CurlyWarriorUK (talk) 15:54, 24 April 2018 (UTC)