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Raymond Hart Massey (August 30 1896 – July
29 1983) was a Canada|Canadian actor.  Born in
Toronto, Ontario, he was the son of Chester D.
Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson
Tractor Company.  He graduated from high school at
Appleby College, then furthered his education at
University of Toronto and at Balliol College,
Oxford, England.

At the outbreak of World War I he joined the
Canadian Army. His first stage appearance was in
Siberia, where he entertained the American troops
who were on occupation duty. Severely wounded in
action in France, he was sent home where he
eventually worked in the family business, selling
farm implements. However, drawn to the theater, in
1922 he appeared on the London stage.  His first
movie role was High Treason in 1927, and he played
Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band in the
following year.  In 1936 he starred in H. G.
Wells' Things to Come.

Early in Massey's career, Abraham Lincoln's son,
Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), heard Massey
perform and was struck by the close similarity of
Massey's speaking voice to that of his father.

Despite being Canadian, Massey became famous for
his quintessential American roles, as Abraham
Lincoln in 1940's Abe Lincoln in Illinois (for
which he was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Actor), in 1941's Santa Fe Trail, in which he
played abolitionist John Brown (abolitionist)|John
Brown, and as Lincoln again in 1962's How the West
Was Won (movie)|How the West Was Won. He only
played a Canadian on screen once, in Forty-Ninth
Parallel (1941).

He rejoined the Canadian Army during World War II,
and was wounded and invalided out in 1943. 
Following the war, he became an American citizen. 
Massey became well-known on television in the
1950s and 1960s, especially in his role as Doctor
Gillespie in the series Dr. Kildare. He also
dabbled in politics, appearing in a 1964
television advertisement in support of Republican
presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. 

He had two children who followed him into acting:
Anna Massey and Daniel Massey (actor)|Daniel
Massey.  His brother was Vincent Massey, the first
Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.

He died of pneumonia on July 29 1983 in Los
Angeles, California  and is buried in New Haven,
Connecticut.

Massey has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame, one for movies at 1719 Vine Street and one
for television at 6708 Hollywood Blvd.

See also: Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood|Other Canadian pioneers in early
Hollywood