Claude Rains made his American film debut as the title character in The Invisible Man, in which he is unseen until the final shot, meaning he was cast entirely on his voice.
He was nominated four times for Best Supporting Actor and never won, which given Casablanca, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and Notorious is an oversight of some scale.
Captain Renault in Casablanca is the performance, a corrupt official whose cynicism turns out to be a position instead of a character, and he gets the best lines in a film full of them.
He came from the London stage, taught at RADA where Olivier was among his students, and lost an eye in a gas attack during the First World War.
