Biography

Raymond Massey

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Overview

Born
August 30, 1896 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died
July 29, 1983 · Los Angeles, California, USA (pneumonia)
Birth name
Raymond Hart Massey
Height
6′ 3″ (1.91 m)

Mini bio

Educated at the University of Toronto & Balliol College, Oxford, he joined the Canadian Field Artillery in World War I, served in France & was wounded. His first appearance was in a stage production in Siberia, during the multi-nation intervention of 1918 - 1919. Raymond returned to Canada & his family farm implement business , Massey-Harris Tractor Company, after the war, although footlights proved a greater allure than plowshares. He appeared at the Everyman Theatre, London in "In the Zone" in 1922 and from then his acting career never looked back. As adept in front of arc lights as the footlights, he was signed up for a 5 year contract by Alexander Korda. Major Massey was invalided from the Canadian Army in 1943. Raymond was devoted to his American wife Dorothy, to whom he referred all queries and problems. He had an ardent radio following in the States and became an American citizen. This was natural as his mother and maternal grandmother were Americans. A bad traveler, Raymond hated the sea and airplanes. A good sportsman, he excelled at golf and fishing, A scholar, he loved good literature. A modest man, he regarded himself as supremely uninteresting.
- IMDb mini biography by: Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

Family

Spouses
Children
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Trademarks

His portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, whom he portrayed in five different dramatic productions, four by different authors.

Trivia

Scion of the Massey family, whose farm implement manufacturing business merged with the Harris company in 1891 to form Massey-Harris. Then in 1953, it merged with the Ferguson company to become Massey-Harris-Ferguson, shortened to Massey-Ferguson in 1957. Massey-Ferguson, now an AGCO (formerly Varity) subsidiary, is the largest-selling farm tractor brand in the world. Vincent and Raymond Massey were the last Masseys to have a direct role in the company. Each elected to pursue other careers.
His divorce from his ex-wife Adrianne Allen was the inspiration for the 1949 film Adam's Rib (1949). Each was represented by one half of a famous husband-and-wife team of divorce lawyers, Dorothy and her husband William Dwight Whitney. After the trial was over, the Whitneys divorced. The ex-Mrs. Whitney married Massey, and the ex-Mrs. Massey married the ex-Mrs. Whitney's ex-husband.
Was a veteran of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (CSEF) 4,000 soldiers who were sent to Russia to combat the Bolsheviks. This was authorized on August 12, 1918. He announced his participation during the airing of "The Lux Radio Theater: Action in the North Atlantic" broadcast on May 15, 1944.
Massey joked that the British thought he was American and the Americans thought he was British. He was actually Canadian, but his mother and paternal grandmother were both Americans and his branch of the Massey family migrated from England to Canada via the United States. He later became a United States citizen. He died the same day as his The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946) co-star David Niven, and was interred in the Ludington family plot in Beaverdale Cemetery, Hamden, Connecticut.
Played Abraham Lincoln a total of five times, twice on TV, twice in the movies, as well as in the stage play "Abe Lincoln in Illinois". He portrayed Lincoln on television in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1950) and The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1956), opposite Lillian Gish as Mary Todd Lincoln, and in the films Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940), and How the West Was Won (1962). In the film Prince of Players (1955), Massey played Junius Brutus Booth, the father of Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Massey spoke the lines given to Lincoln in the staged dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body", in which he also spoke John Brown's lines. Massey also played John Brown in the films Santa Fe Trail (1940) and Seven Angry Men (1955). There had been dissatisfaction among the public when it was learned that Massey, a Canadian with clear diction and a fine speaking voice, had been selected to play Lincoln in the stage production of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois", until he received rave reviews for his performance. His subsequent reprise of the role in the 1940 film version earned him an Oscar nomination.