Who played the title scientist in the 1933 Universal horror film The Invisible Man? Claude Rains played Dr. Jack Griffin, the scientist who becomes invisible.
Directed by James Whale, the film adapts H. G. Wells’s 1897 novel but expands its central character into a tragic, increasingly dangerous figure. Rains’s face is hidden for most of the movie, so his performance depends largely on voice, movement, and reactions to unseen physical effects.
Colin Clive was considered for the role, while Universal initially preferred a more established star. Whale nevertheless pushed for Rains, whose screen career was just beginning. The casting proved important: Rains supplied the voice and personality that make Griffin memorable even when he is visually absent.
The film is sometimes confused with later Universal monster movies starring Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi. Neither played the Invisible Man in this 1933 production. Rains’s performance helped make the film a major success, and the movie entered the U.S. National Film Registry in 2008.