Claude Rains - An Invisible Man

<p><strong>Claude Rains</strong> was the greatest character actor of his age - possibly of all ages according to film historian Richard Schickel. Classic credits include <em>The Invisible Man The Adventures of Robin Hood Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Now Voyager Casablanca Notorious</em> and <em>Lawrence of Arabia</em>. A stage star in his native England Rains didn't make his screen debut until age 43. Throughout his career he hid behind a movie persona that was suave and sophisticated but off camera he was insecure and had trouble expressing feelings. Good-natured still he had few friends and was married six times. A proud naturalized American Victorian values led him to repudiate Tinsel Town - he was happiest puttering around the 18th-century Pennsylvania farm that was his heart and soul.      </p><p>     </p><p>As a teenager Toby Cohen was thrilled to meet her screen idol backstage after his Broadway triumph. Based on her decades of research and exclusive interviews - with Rains' fifth wife his sixth wife's children and nephews his farm neighbors the doctor who treated him in his final illness - Ms. Cohen has produced not just a biography but an in-depth compassionate analysis of a complicated man whose true self was invisible to all.    </p><p> </p><p>With never-before-published candid photographs.</p><p><br></p>