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01
Scion of the Massey family, whose farm implement manufacturing business merged with the Harris company in 1891 to form Massey-Harris. Then in 1953, it merged with the Ferguson company to become Massey-Harris-Ferguson, shortened to Massey-Ferguson in 1957. Massey-Ferguson, now an AGCO formerly Varity subsidiary, is the largest-selling farm tractor brand in the world. Vincent and Raymond Massey were the last Masseys to have a direct role in the company. Each elected to pursue other careers.
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02
His divorce from ex-wife Adrianne Allen inspired the 1949 film Adam’s Rib. Each was represented by one half of a famous husband-and-wife team of divorce lawyers, Dorothy and her husband William Dwight Whitney. After the trial, the Whitneys divorced. The ex-Mrs. Whitney married Massey, and the ex-Mrs. Massey married the ex-Mrs. Whitney’s ex-husband.
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03
Veteran of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force CSEF of 4,000 soldiers sent to Russia in 1918 to combat the Bolsheviks. He announced his participation during a 1944 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
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04
Massey joked that the British thought he was American and the Americans thought he was British. He was Canadian, but his mother and paternal grandmother were Americans, and his branch of the Massey family migrated from England to Canada via the United States. He later became a U.S. citizen. He died the same day as his The Prisoner of Zenda and A Matter of Life and Death co-star David Niven, and was interred in the Ludington family plot in Hamden, Connecticut.
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05
Played Abraham Lincoln five times: twice on TV in Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1950 and The Day Lincoln Was Shot 1956, twice in movies Abe Lincoln in Illinois 1940, How the West Was Won 1962, and in the stage play Abe Lincoln in Illinois. In Prince of Players 1955 he played Junius Brutus Booth, father of Lincoln’s assassin. He also spoke Lincoln’s lines in a dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benet’s John Brown’s Body and played John Brown in Santa Fe Trail 1940 and Seven Angry Men 1955. Public dissatisfaction over a Canadian playing Lincoln evaporated after rave reviews for his stage performance.
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06
Appeared with Boris Karloff in The Old Dark House 1932. Later played Jonathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace 1944, a role Karloff created on Broadway.
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07
Father of Anna Massey, Daniel Massey, and Geoffrey Massey. Grandfather of Raymond Massey and Alice Massey. Former father-in-law of Penelope Wilton. Distantly related to Anthony Steel. Younger brother of Canadian politician Vincent Massey 1887-1967, the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada 1952-59.
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08
He and his children Daniel and Anna all worked with Laurence Olivier: Raymond in Fire Over England 1937 and The Invaders 1941, Daniel in The Entertainer 1960, and Anna in Bunny Lake Is Missing 1965, David Copperfield 1970, and A Little Romance 1979.
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09
One of two actors to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination for portraying Abraham Lincoln; the other is Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln 2012.
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10
Had three roles in common with Charlton Heston: 1 Sherlock Holmes Massey in The Speckled Band 1931, Heston in The Crucifer of Blood 1991, 2 Cardinal Richelieu Massey in Under the Red Robe 1937, Heston in The Three Musketeers 1973 and The Four Musketeers 1974, and 3 Abraham Lincoln Massey in five productions, Heston in The Great Battles of the Civil War 1994.
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11
His brother Vincent Massey was the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
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12
Mentioned in The Gum episode of Seinfeld 1995.
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13
Endorsed Republican candidate Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential race.
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14
Stepfather of Dorothy Whitney.
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15
Biography in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 554-555.
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16
Cousin of Walter Massey.
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17
Played the villain in Cecil B. DeMille’s Reap the Wild Wind 1942. Was DeMille’s original choice for Dathan in The Ten Commandments 1956 but turned it down; the role went to Edward G. Robinson, who later appeared with Massey in The Woman in the Window 1944.
