Raymond Massey

Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian and American actor. Known for his commanding stage-trained voice, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title role in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, a role he later reprised on television and in the film How the West Was Won (1962). Among his other well-known roles were Dr. Gillespie on the NBC television series Dr. Kildare (1961–66), John Brown in Santa Fe Trail (1940) and Seven Angry Men (1955), Abraham Farlan in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), and Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Early life and education Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Chester Daniel Massey and his American wife Anna Vincent. His father was the wealthy co-owner of the Massey-Harris tractor company. Raymond was the grandson of businessman Hart Massey and great-grandson of company founder Daniel Massey. His branch of the Massey family immigrated to Canada from New England a few years before the War of 1812, their ancestors having migrated from England to the Massachusetts colony in the 1630s.

Massey attended secondary school at Upper Canada College in Toronto for two years before transferring to Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario. He also took several courses at the University of Toronto, where he was an active member of the Kappa Alpha Society.

Military service First World War Massey joined the Canadian Army at the outbreak of World War I, and served on the Western Front in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. Lieutenant Massey returned to Canada after being wounded at Zillebeke in Belgium during the Battle of Mont Sorrel in 1916 and was engaged as an army instructor for American officers at Yale University. In 1918, he was recalled to active service and joined the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force that went to Siberia during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. On the orders of his commanding general, he organized a minstrel show troupe with himself as end man in blackface to bolster morale of allied troops on occupation duty in Vladivostok.

After returning home in 1919, he attended Balliol College, Oxford. He later went to work in the family business, selling farm implements, but he was drawn to the theater. He persuaded his reluctant family to allow him to pursue this career.

Acting career He first appeared on the London stage in 1922 in Eugene O'Neill's In the Zone. His preparation for the role was so detailed and obsessive that one person commented that Massey would not be satisfied with his Lincoln impersonation until someone assassinated him. On stage in a dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benét's John Brown's Body (1953), Massey, in addition to narrating along with Tyrone Power and Judith Anderson, took on the roles of both John Brown and Lincoln.

Massey played a Canadian on-screen only once, in 49th Parallel (1941).

During World War II, he teamed up with Katharine Cornell and other leading actors in a revival of Shaw's Candida to benefit the Army Emergency Fund and the Navy Relief Society. Beverly Garland, Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey in the first episode of Dr. Kildare (1961) Massey portrayed Jonathan Brewster in the film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. The character had been created by Boris Karloff for the stage version, and a running gag in the play and the film was the character's resemblance to Karloff. Even though the film was released in 1944, it was shot in 1941, at which time Karloff still was contracted to the Broadway play and could not be released for the filming (unlike his costars Josephine Hull, Jean Adair and John Alexander). Massey and Karloff had appeared together earlier in James Whale's suspense film The Old Dark House (1932).

After Massey became an American citizen, he continued to work in Hollywood. Memorable film roles included the husband of Joan Crawford during her Oscar-nominated role in Possessed (1947) and the doomed publishing tycoon Gail Wynand in The Fountainhead (1949) with Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper. In 1952 his stage play Hanging Judge appeared in the West End, directed by Michael Powell. In 1955 he starred in East of Eden as Adam Trask, father of Cal, played by James Dean, and Aron, played by Richard Davalos.

Massey became well known on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He was cast in 1960 as Sir Oliver Garnett in the episode "Trunk Full of Dreams" of the NBC series Riverboat.

Massey is remembered as Dr. Gillespie in the popular 1961–1966 NBC series Dr. Kildare, with Richard Chamberlain in the title role. Massey and his son Daniel were cast as father and son in The Queen's Guards (1961).

Personal life Richard Chamberlain, Daniela Bianchi and Massey in Dr. Kildare (1964) Massey was married three times. Margery Fremantle from 1921 to 1929 (divorce); they had one child, architect Geoffrey Massey. Adrianne Allen from 1929 to 1939 (divorce); Allen was a stage actress in London and on Broadway. They had two children who followed them into acting: Anna Massey and Daniel Massey. Dorothy Whitney from 1939 until her death in 1982.

His high-profile estrangement and divorce from Adrianne Allen was the inspiration for Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin's script for the film Adam's Rib (1949), starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, and indeed Massey married the lawyer who represented him in court, Dorothy Whitney, while his then former wife, Allen, married the opposing lawyer, William Dwight Whitney.

Massey's older brother, Vincent Massey, was the first Canadian-born governor general of Canada. Massey also dabbled in politics, appearing in a 1964 television advertisement in support of the conservative Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. Massey denounced U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for a "no-win" strategy in the Vietnam War, suggesting that Goldwater would pursue an aggressive strategy and win the war quickly.

Death Massey died of pneumonia in Los Angeles, California on July 29, 1983, a month before he would have turned 87. His achievements have also been recognized in a signature cocktail, the Raymond Massey.

Filmography

Radio appearances Year Program Episode/source 1941 Philip Morris Playhouse Wuthering Heights 1942 Philip Morris Playhouse The Man Who Played God 1944The Doctor FightsNarrator 1945 Inner Sanctum Mystery Death Across the Board 1952 Cavalcade of America With Malice Towards None 1952 The Endless Frontier Only One to a Customer