Raymond Massey
Highest Rated: 100% The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Lowest Rated: 56% Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Birthday: Aug 30, 1896
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Exceptionally tall, with distinctive, unconventional features and a commanding presence, actor Raymond Massey built an impressive career out of playing reassuring authority figures and scheming villains equally well. The Canadian-born actor first honed his craft on the stages of the U.K. for nearly 10 years before venturing across the Atlantic to appear on Broadway as "Hamlet" and in early sound pictures like "The Speckled Band" (1931), in the role of Sherlock Holmes. Massey demonstrated his versatility with venomous characters in films like "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937) juxtaposed against his career-defining portrayal of the 16th U.S. president in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1940), based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play written with him in mind. Massey became the stuff of Hollywood legend when the aftermath of his divorce from actress Adrianne Allen inspired the beloved Tracy-Hepburn comedy "Adam's Rib" (1949). As an actor, Massey continually impressed with is ability to make difficult characters sympathetic in such films as "The Fountainhead" (1949), opposite Gary Cooper, and as James Dean's emotionally unavailable father in "East of Eden" (1955). A younger generation of fans came to appreciate his later work as Richard Chamberlain's authoritative mentor Dr. Gillespie on "Dr. Kildare" (NBC, 1961-66). Even as his half-century career neared its end, Massey continued to make memorable contributions to such big-budget Hollywood offerings as the Western "Mackenna's Gold" (1969). One of the first and best examples of a "working actor" in film, Massey never failed to elevate the integrity of any project.
Photos
Raymond Massey
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | All My Darling Daughters' Anniversary | Matthew Cunningham (Character) | - | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | All My Darling Daughters | Matthew Cunningham (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet |
|
The President's Plane Is Missing | Secretary Of State Freeman Sharkey (Character) | - | 1971 |
88% |
|
How the West Was Won | Abraham Lincoln (Character) | - | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Jacqueline Kennedy's Asian Journey | Narrator | - | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fiercest Heart | Willem Prinsloo (Character) | - | 1961 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Great Impostor | Abbott Donner (Character) | - | 1960 |
83% |
|
The Naked and the Dead | Gen. Cummings (Character) | - | 1958 |
No Score Yet |
|
Omar Khayyam | The Shah (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Naked Eye | Unknown (Character) | - | 1956 |
No Score Yet |
|
Prince of Players | Junius Brutus Booth (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Seven Angry Men | John Brown (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet |
|
Battle Cry | Maj. Gen. Snipes (Character) | - | 1955 |
86% |
|
East of Eden | Adam Trask (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Queen's Guards | Capt. Fellowes (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Desert Song | Sheik Yousseff (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet |
|
Carson City | A.J. "Big" Jack Davis (Character) | - | 1952 |
60% |
|
David and Bathsheba | Nathan (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Swirl of Glory | Jacob Stint (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Come Fill the Cup | John Ives (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sugarfoot | Jacob Stint (Character) | - | 1951 |
No Score Yet |
|
Chain Lightning | Leland Willis (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Barricade | Boss Kruger (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
Dallas | Will Marlow (Character) | - | 1950 |
No Score Yet |
|
Roseanna McCoy | Old Randall McCoy (Character) | - | 1949 |
83% |
|
The Fountainhead | Gail Wynand (Character) | - | 1949 |
83% |
|
Possessed | Dean Graham (Character) | - | 1947 |
67% |
|
Mourning Becomes Electra | Ezra Mannon (Character) | - | 1947 |
97% |
|
A Matter of Life and Death | Abraham Farlan (Character) | - | 1946 |
No Score Yet |
|
God Is My Co-Pilot | Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault (Character) | - | 1945 |
No Score Yet |
|
Hotel Berlin | Arnim von Dahnwitz (Character) | - | 1945 |
86% |
|
Arsenic and Old Lace | Jonathan Brewster (Character) | - | 1944 |
86% |
|
The Woman in the Window | Frank Lalor, District Attorney (Character) | - | 1944 |
No Score Yet |
|
Action in the North Atlantic | Capt. Steve Jarvis (Character) | - | 1943 |
67% |
|
Desperate Journey | Major Otto Baumeister (Character) | - | 1942 |
80% |
|
Reap the Wild Wind | King Cutler (Character) | - | 1942 |
No Score Yet |
|
Dangerously They Live | Dr. Ingersoll (Character) | - | 1941 |
88% |
|
49th Parallel | Andy Brock (Character) | - | 1941 |
75% |
|
Abe Lincoln in Illinois | Abe Lincoln (Character) | - | 1940 |
56% |
|
Santa Fe Trail | John Brown (Character) | - | 1940 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Black Limelight | Peter Charrington (Character) | - | 1939 |
83% |
|
The Drum | Prince Ghul (Character) | - | 1938 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Hurricane | DeLaage (Character) | - | 1937 |
100% |
|
The Prisoner of Zenda | Black Michael (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Under the Red Robe | Cardinal Richelieu (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet |
|
Fire Over England | King Philip II of Spain (Character) | - | 1937 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dreaming Lips | Miguel del Vayo (Character) | - | 1937 |
91% |
|
Things to Come |
John Cabal/ |
- | 1936 |
90% |
|
The Scarlet Pimpernel | Chauvelin (Character) | - | 1935 |
97% |
|
The Old Dark House | Philip Waverton (Character) | - | 1932 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Speckled Band | Sherlock Holmes (Character) | - | 1931 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | 100% | Night Gallery |
Unknown (Character), Unknown (Guest Star) |
1971-1972 |
10% | No Score Yet | The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dr. Kildare | Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Character) | 1961-1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What's My Line? | Guest | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wagon Train | Montezuma IX (Guest Star) | 1960 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Zane Grey Theatre | Unknown (Character) | 1960 |
No Score Yet | 87% | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Sam Pine (Character) | 1959 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Climax! |
Unknown (Character), Writer |
1956 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The 20th Century-Fox Hour | Unknown (Character) | 1955 |