Raymond Massey Biography

Fast Facts

• Participated in a revival of "Candida" with prominent actors like Katharine Cornell to raise money for the Canadian Army and Navy Relief effort
• Served in the Canadian Army during World War I as a member of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force
• Attended the University of Toronto and Balliol College at Oxford University
• First appeared on stage in London in a 1922 production of Eugene O'Neill's "In the Zone․"
• Made his screen acting debut in the film "High Treason" in 1929
• Best known for his role as Dr․ Leonard Gillespie in "Dr․ Kildare" and as Jonathan Brewster in "Arsenic and Old Lace․"
• After playing Abraham Lincoln in the 1938 stage production of Robert Sherwood's play "Abe Lincoln in Illinois," he reprised the role in the 1940 film by the same name
• His first role on the American stage was in the title role of "Hamlet" on Broadway