Raymond Massey

Trivia

• He is buried in the Ludington family plot in Beaverdale Cemetary, in the suburb of Hampden area, which is in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.
• 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.
• Massey said that the British thought he was American and the Americans thought that he was British. He was actually Canadian. But his mother and paternal grandmother were both Americans and his branch of the Massey family migrated from England to Canada via the United States.
• Portrayed Abraham Lincoln in both Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) and How the West Was Won (1962).
• Portrayed Abraham Lincoln yet again in the 1950s "Du Pont Show of the Month" television drama "The Day That Lincoln Was Shot", opposite Lillian Gish as Mary Todd Lincoln.
• There was much dissatisfaction among the public when it was learned that Massey, a Canadian with clear diction and a fine speaking voice, had been selected to play Abraham Lincoln in the stage production of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" - until he received rave reviews for his performance.
• His subsequent reprise of the role in the 1940 film version (Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)) earned him an Oscar nomination.