--- name: "Raymond Massey" canonical: "https://film.one/person/raymond-massey" roles: ["Actor"] born: "30 August 1896" died: "29 July 1983" reviewed_on_fi1m: 3 average_fi1m_score: 78 average_as: "actor" average_over: 3 updated: "2026-09-20T04:08:13.742536+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Raymond Massey Actor. Born 30 August 1896 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Died 29 July 1983. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 30 August 1896, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - **Died:** 29 July 1983 - **Active:** 1941–1962 - **Also known as:** Raymond Hart Massey - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 78, as actor, over 3 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1940s 86 (2), 1960s 62 (1) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 78 to 74 across 3 titles - **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 1 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 1, Drama 1, Fantasy 1, Romance 1, Thriller 1, War 1 - **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $7m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Massey, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q531461, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0557339/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2669 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*49th Parallel*](https://film.one/film/49th-parallel.md) (79) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Raymond Massey > Tall, gaunt and blessed with a stage voice built for the back row, Raymond Massey was cast as Lincoln five times and John Brown twice. The authority was real; a light touch, on the evidence of his one Canadian role, was not. Massey stands still and speaks slowly, and the effect is of a monument that has agreed to say a few words. He was tall and gaunt, with a voice trained on the London stage from 1922, and film-makers on both sides of the Atlantic looked at him and saw history. He played Abraham Lincoln five times across stage, film and television, and John Brown twice on film. That is not a coincidence; it is a casting note. The career had two halves and an ocean between them. He came up in British films from the late 1920s, often with Alexander Korda, and in *Things to Come* (1936) took the double part of John Cabal and Oswald Cabal. Then America, where he created Lincoln on stage in *Abe Lincoln in Illinois* (1938) and repeated him on screen in 1940, over some public grumbling that a Canadian had no business in the part. He worked with Michael Powell four times, as Andy Brock in *49th Parallel* (1941) and Abraham Farlan in *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946) among them, played the villain Jonathan Brewster in Capra's *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), and was Adam Trask opposite James Dean in *East of Eden* (1955). Television took him last: five years as Dr Gillespie in *Dr Kildare* (1961–66). The reputation rests on difficult men made credible, Trask and Brewster chief among them, and on Lincoln done with the kind of preparation that reads on screen as weight. *49th Parallel* shows something else. Massey arrives late, as Andy Brock, a Canadian soldier, in what was his only Canadian part on screen, and the segment is written broad, played to match, and lands with a thump. We had been waiting for him and were let down. After Anton Walbrook's speech at the dinner table, which moved us, and Leslie Howard's camp in the Rockies, where the argument for once runs both ways, Brock's stretch is the film making its point with a mallet, and Massey swings it. The stillness that makes him a Lincoln makes him a poor fit for a scrappy private, and he does not adjust. The typecasting was a fair complaint and he never quite answered it; he went back to Lincoln whenever asked. Start with the Powell films, where he is surrounded by people who knew what he was for, and keep *49th Parallel* in mind as the one where they did not quite manage it. A man who played Lincoln five times finished as a television doctor for five years. We suspect he found it restful. ## Biography Raymond Massey (1896–1983) was a Canadian-American actor. Born in Toronto, he trained at the University of Toronto and Balliol College, Oxford, before making his professional stage debut in London in 1922. He appeared in numerous British and American films from the early 1930s, often in authoritative or historical roles. Massey received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his title role in *Abe Lincoln in Illinois* (1940) and later reprised the part in *How the West Was Won* (1962). Other notable film credits include Jonathan Brewster in *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), Adam Trask in *East of Eden* (1955), and Andy Brock in *49th Parallel* (1941). On television he played Dr Gillespie in the NBC series *Dr Kildare* (1961–1966). He was the brother of Vincent Massey, later Governor General of Canada, and the father of actors Anna Massey and Daniel Massey. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, screenonline.org.uk, britannica.com.* ## On Fi1m (3) - *How the West Was Won* (1962), Fi1m 62, as Abraham Lincoln — [page](https://film.one/film/how-the-west-was-won.md) - *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946), Fi1m 92, as Abraham Farlan — [page](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death.md) - *49th Parallel* (1941), Fi1m 79, as Andy Brock — [page](https://film.one/film/49th-parallel.md) ## Complete filmography (80) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *My Darling Daughters' Anniversary* (1973), as Matthew Cunningham - *The President's Plane Is Missing* (1973), as Secretary of State Freeman Sharkey - *All My Darling Daughters* (1972), as Matthew Cunningham - *Walt Whitman: Poet for a New Age* (1971), as Abraham Lincoln - *Night Gallery* (1970), series, as Dr. Glendon, Colonel Archie Dittman (segment "Clean Kills and Other Trophies") - *Mackenna's Gold* (1969), as The Preacher - *Saint Joan* (1967), as The Inquisitor - *The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.* (1966), series, as B. Elzie Bubb - *Choice* (1964), as Narrator - *How the West Was Won* (1962), as Abraham Lincoln — Fi1m 62, [page](https://film.one/film/how-the-west-was-won.md) - *Jacqueline Kennedy's Asian Journey* (1962), as Narrator - *The Queen's Guards* (1961), Actor - *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, as Dr. Leonard Barry Gillespie - *The Fiercest Heart* (1961), as Willem Prisloom - *The Great Impostor* (1960), as Abbott Donner - *Insight* (1960), series, Actor - *Adventures in Paradise* (1959), series, as Captain William Brooks - *Riverboat* (1959), series, as Sir Oliver Garnett - *Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse* (1958), series, as Amos Claypool - *The Naked and the Dead* (1958), as General Cummings - *Wagon Train* (1957), series, as Montezuma IX - *Omar Khayyam* (1957), as The Shah - *Mayerling* (1957), as The Prime Minister - *The True Story of the Civil War* (1956), as Narrator - *Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre* (1956), series, as Malachi West - *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, as Sir George Sidney, MP · Writer - *The Naked Eye* (1956), as Narrator (voice) - *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, as George Apley - *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Sam Pine - *East of Eden* (1955), as Adam Trask - *Seven Angry Men* (1955), as John Brown - *Battle Cry* (1955), as Major General Snipes - *Prince of Players* (1955), as Junius Brutus Booth - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Sir George Sidney, Doc Woodward - *The American Road* (1953), as Narrator - *The Desert Song* (1953), as Sheik Yousseff - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Lord Hook, Paul von Hindenburg - *Carson City* (1952), as Big Jack Davis - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as The Inquisitor - *Come Fill the Cup* (1951), as John Ives - *David and Bathsheba* (1951), as Nathan - *Sugarfoot* (1951), as Jacob Stint - *Dallas* (1950), as Will Marlow - *Lux Video Theatre* (1950), series, as Abe Lincoln - *Challenge: Science Against Cancer* (1950), as Narrated by (voice) - *Barricade* (1950), as Boss Kruger - *Chain Lightning* (1950), as Leland Willis - *Robert Montgomery Presents* (1950), series, as Dr. Henry Craig, Dr. Clark Evans, Judge Benton - *Roseanna McCoy* (1949), as Old Randall McCoy - *The Fountainhead* (1949), as Gail Wynand - *Ford Theatre* (1948), series, Actor - *The Ford Theatre Hour* (1948), series, as Clinton Jones - *Mourning Becomes Electra* (1947), as Ezra Mannon - *Possessed* (1947), as Dean Graham - *A Matter of Life and Death* (1946), as Abraham Farlan — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/a-matter-of-life-and-death.md) - *God Is My Co-Pilot* (1945), as Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault - *Hotel Berlin* (1945), as Arnim von Dahnwitz - *The Woman in the Window* (1944), as Dist. Attorney Frank Lalor - *Arsenic and Old Lace* (1944), as Jonathan Brewster - *Action in the North Atlantic* (1943), as Capt. Steve Jarvis - *Desperate Journey* (1942), as Major Otto Baumeister - *Reap the Wild Wind* (1942), as King Cutler - *Dangerously They Live* (1941), as Dr. Ingersoll - *49th Parallel* (1941), as Andy Brock — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/49th-parallel.md) - *Santa Fe Trail* (1940), as John Brown - *Abe Lincoln in Illinois* (1940), as Abe Lincoln - *Black Limelight* (1938), as Peter Charrington - *The Drum* (1938), as Prince Ghul - *The Hurricane* (1937), as DeLaage - *The Prisoner of Zenda* (1937), as Black Michael - *Under the Red Robe* (1937), as Cardinal Richelieu - *Fire Over England* (1937), as King Philip II of Spain - *Dreaming Lips* (1937), as Miguel del Vayo - *Things to Come* (1936), as John Cabal / Oswald Cabal - *The Scarlet Pimpernel* (1934), as Chauvelin - *The Old Dark House* (1932), as Philip Waverton - *The Face at the Window* (1932), as Paul le Gros - *The Speckled Band* (1931), as Sherlock Holmes - *The Crooked Billet* (1930), Actor - *High Treason* (1929), as Member of Federated States Council ## Gallery - ![Raymond Massey](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-18c171790e4a.jpg) Raymond Massey — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Raymond_Massey_1961_%28cropped%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Photo of actress Antoinette Bower and actor Raymond Massey as guest stars on the television program Adventures in Paradise. (1961)](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-9fd755f1881d.jpg) Photo of actress Antoinette Bower and actor Raymond Massey as guest stars on the television program Adventures in Paradise. (1961) — ABC Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Antoinette_Bower_Raymond_Massey_1961.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Promotional photograph for the premiere of Robert E. Sherwood's play Abe Lincoln in Illinois, starring Raymond Massey Caption reads as follows:On October 15th a (1938)](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-94c6dfb0f24a.jpg) Promotional photograph for the premiere of Robert E. Sherwood's play Abe Lincoln in Illinois, starring Raymond Massey Caption reads as follows:On October 15th a (1938) — Stage Publishing Company, Inc., no photographer credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Massey-Abe-Lincoln-in-Illinois-1938.jpg/1280px-Massey-Abe-Lincoln-in-Illinois-1938.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Raymond Massey](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-445bebe78034.jpg) Raymond Massey — Image via TMDB - ![Raymond Massey](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-9f7a355ae14a.jpg) Raymond Massey — Image via TMDB - ![Raymond Massey](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-b923f6da50bb.jpg) Raymond Massey — Image via TMDB - ![Raymond Massey](https://film.one/media/person/386290/gallery-b035d4bd4475.jpg) Raymond Massey — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1941: Best Actor (nominated), for *Abe Lincoln in Illinois* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/raymond-massey