Rains's parents: left, Emily Eliza Cox Rains; right, Frederick Rains.

Rains's theatrical mentor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, in and out of his signature stage role, Svengali.

Rains in his Scottish Regiment kilt, circa 1917.

The earliest known portrait of Rains, as an army captain, shortly before he was wounded at Vimy Ridge.

Actress Isabel Jeans, Rains's first wife.

Julius Caesar (1920): Rains as Casca (far right), with Clifton Boyne (seated) as Caesar and Henry Ainley as Marcus Antonius.

As Christopher Marlowe in Clemence Dane's Will Shakespeare (1921), with Mary Clare.

With Nancy Price in Pirandello's And That's the Truth (If You Think It Is) (1925).

Newspaper cartoon of Rains in The Man from Hong Kong (1925).

A 1920s portrait of Beatrix Thomson.

As Faulkland in The Rivals (1925).

Rains around the time of his appointment as acting instructor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Rains, with a stoic royal guard, contemplates his inability to “eat his notices” in London.

As the Prime Minister in Shaw's The Apple Cart (1930), with Tom Powers and Eva Leonard-Boyne.

With Alla Nazimova in the Theatre Guild's New York production of The Good Earth (1932).

As the asthmatic, deformed Paul Verin in Jean Bart's The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1932).

As a would-be Napoleon in Alfred Savoir's comedy He (1931).

An actor on the move, script in hand, in the early 1930s.

With Gloria Stuart in The Invisible Man (1933) (David J. Skal collection).

Poster and billboard art for The Invisible Man (David J. Skal collection).

Rains's invisibility required a creative approach to publicity photos. With William Harrigan (David J. Skal collection).

With Whitney Bourne in Crime without Passion (1934) (courtesy of Donna Tattle).

Rains takes his revenge on Lionel Atwill in the film version of The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1935).

As the drug-addicted murderer John Jasper in Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) (courtesy of Donna Tattle).

With Fay Wray in The Clairvoyant (1935) (courtesy of Donna Tattle).

As Napoleon, with Marion Davies in Hearts Divided (1936) (courtesy of Donna Tattle).

With Anita Louise in Anthony Adverse (1936) (David J. Skal collection).

As Sir John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), with Melville Cooper (left) and Basil Rathbone (courtesy of Donna Tattle).

With James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) (David J. Skal collection).

As theatrical impresario David Belasco in Lady with Red Hair (1940) (David J. Skal collection).

With Lon Chaney in The Wolf Man (1941) (David J. Skal collection).