Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) - Softcover

Skal, David; Rains, Jessica

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0813192617 ISBN 13: 9780813192611

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2010

Synopsis

Claude Rains Late in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." 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 nominated multiple times for an Academy Award for Best Full description

About this title

Review:

"[Claude Rains] was perfect. There's a very small group of actors who seemingly never made a mistake: Walter Huston, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, and Claude Rains." -- Roddy McDowell

"[Claude Rains] was witty, amusing, and beautiful. And thoroughly enchanting to be with. And brilliant." -- Bette Davis

"Claude Rains was a consummate actor whose remarkable life and career has been covered in fascinating detail in this book." -- Kevin Brownlow

"Most movie stars eventually are forgotten, and almost all character actors are, but the reputation of Claude Rains has survived for more than 40 years since his death. David Skal's biography, written with Rains' daughter, probably will provoke even more welcome -- and justified -- reassessments of his gifts." -- Scott Eyman, Cox News Service

"This highly readable biography, written with the help of his daughter, Jessica Rains, reeals the witty, talented man behind this universally respected Hollywood legend." -- Tuscan Citizen

"A comprehensive, breezily written guide to a consummate gentleman and an ever-dlligent pro." -- Post and Courier

"The book has an excellent appendix detailing Rain's theatre and film work, and a good bibliography and index." -- Mary of Many Colors

"It's a fast, compelling read, leaving readers to reach their own conclusions." -- Expressionmilwaukee.com

"Well-researched, competently written biography of the English actor." -- Robert Nott, Sante Fe New Mexican

" 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

About the Author:

David J. Skal is the author of numerous books about film and popular culture, including Hollywood Gothic and The Monster Show. He is a frequent lecturer and talk-show guest and has produced several documentaries about Hollywood history, including documentaries about Claude Rains's The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera. Jessica Rains, the only child of Claude Rains, is a producer and actress whose performance credits include The Sting, Pete and Tillie, Islands in the Stream, and Portnoy's Complaint.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0813192617
• ISBN 13: 9780813192611
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 334