Massey, Raymond Hart

Massey, Raymond Hart (1896–1983), American actor and director, born in Toronto. Through his brother he became associated with the University of Toronto's Hart House Theatre after the First World War, in which he served with the Canadian forces, and in 1922 he made his debut there as Rosmer in Ibsen's Rosmersholm. He then went to London and made his professional début as Jack in O'Neill's In the Zone at the Everyman Theatre, returning there in 1926 as joint manager. He made his New York début as Hamlet in 1931 and for several years was seen in both New York and London, his roles including Ethan Frome in the dramatization of Edith Wharton's novel of that name (NY, 1936) and Harry Van in Sherwood's Idiot's Delight (London, 1938). His finest performance was as Abraham Lincoln in Sherwood's Abe Lincoln in Illinois (NY, 1938), a part which made good use of his dark brooding looks, rangy physique, and distinctive voice, and which he played until 1940. His later stage work, confined almost entirely to the USA, included notable appearances in New York in revivals of Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma (1941), Candida (1942), and Pygmalion (1945), and Strindberg's The Father (1949). In the opening season at Stratford, Conn., in 1955 (see AMERICAN SHAKESPEARE THEATRE) he played Brutus in Julius Caesar and Prospero in The Tempest, and among his later roles were Mr Zuss in Archibald Macleish's J. B. (NY, 1958) and Tom Garrison in Robert Anderson's I Never Sang for My Father (London, 1970). He also directed many plays, and is the author of the play The Hanging Judge (1952), based on Bruce Hamilton's novel.

His children Daniel (1933– ) and Anna (1937– ) were born in England and are both well known on the stage. Daniel played Charles Surface in Sheridan's The School for Scandal (1962), Captain Absolute in his The Rivals (1966), and John Worthing in Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1968). He was later seen in several roles at the National Theatre, among them the title-role in Horváth's Don Juan Comes Back from the War (1976), Robert in Pinter's Betrayal (1978), John Tanner in the full-length version of Shaw's Man and Superman, and the title-role in Molière's The Hypochondriac (both 1981). He also starred in the musicals She Loves Me (NY, 1963) and Sondheim's Follies (London, 1987). Anna Massey achieved a big success in her first stage appearance, in William Douglas Home's The Reluctant Débutante (London, 1955; NY, 1956). Notable later roles were Annie Sullivan in William Gibson's The Miracle Worker (1961), Lady Teazle in Sheridan's The School for Scandal (1962), Jennifer Dubedat in Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma (1963), and Laura Wingfield in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie (1965). She appeared for the National Theatre in several productions including Shaw's Heartbreak House (1975) and Simon Gray's Close of Play (1979).