Raymond Massey - Acting Career

Acting Career

Drawn to the theatre, he first appeared on the London stage in 1922. His first movie role was in High Treason in 1927. In 1929, he directed the London premiere of The Silver Tassie. He played Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band, the first sound film version of the story, in 1931. In 1934, he starred in The Scarlet Pimpernel and, in 1936, he starred in H. G. Wells's Things to Come. In 1944, Massey played the District Attorney in "The Woman in the Window" with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett

Despite being Canadian, Massey became famous for his quintessential American roles such as the abolitionist John Brown in Santa Fe Trail (1941) and again in the low-budget film Seven Angry Men (1955 ). His second portrayal of Brown was much more sympathetic, presenting him as a well-intentioned but misguided figure, while in Santa Fe Trail he was presented as a wild-eyed lunatic.

Massey scored a great triumph on Broadway in Robert E. Sherwood's play Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and he repeated his role in the 1940 film version (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor). Massey again portrayed Lincoln in The Day Lincoln Was Shot on Ford Star Jubilee (1956), and, in a wordless appearance this time, in How the West Was Won (1962). A fellow actor is said to have remarked that Massey wouldn't 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 both the roles of John Brown and Abe Lincoln in the same work.

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

Also in 1941, Massey starred in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma, opposite Katharine Cornell, opening just one week before Pearl Harbor. During the war, he teamed up with Cornell and other leading actors in a revival of Shaw's Candida to benefit the Army Emergency Fund and the Navy Relief Society.

Massey portrayed the character of Jonathan Brewster in the film version of Arsenic and Old Lace. The character had been created by Boris Karloff for the stage version and the character was written to resemble Karloff (a running gag in the play and the film). Even though the film was released in 1944, it was shot in 1941, at which time Karloff was still 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 in James Whale's suspense film The Old Dark House (1932).

Massey rejoined the Canadian Army for World War II, though he was eventually released from service and returned to acting work.

Following the war, Massey became an American citizen. His memorable film roles after that 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), opposite Gary Cooper.

Massey became well-known on television in the 1950s and 1960s, especially as Doctor Gillespie in the popular series Dr. Kildare. He and his son, Daniel, were cast as father and son in The Queen's Guards (1961).