Daniel Massey (actor)

Daniel Massey
Born	Daniel Raymond Massey 10 October 1933(1933-10-10) Westminster, London, England[1]
Died	25 March 1998(1998-03-25) (aged 64) London, England (Hodgkin's lymphoma)
Occupation	Actor, Performer
Years active	1953-1998
Spouse	Lindy Wilton (1984-98) Penelope Wilton (1975-84) Adrienne Corri (1961-67)

Daniel Raymond Massey (10 October 1933 – 25 March 1998) was an English actor and performer. He is possibly best known for his starring role in the British TV drama The Roads to Freedom, as Daniel, alongside Michael Bryant. He is also known for his role in the 1968 American film Star!, as Noël Coward, for which he won a Golden Globe Award.

Personal life

Massey was born in London in 1933. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He was a member of the noted Massey family, which included his father, Raymond Massey, his sister, Anna Massey and his uncle Vincent Massey, a Governor General of Canada. His mother was the actress Adrianne Allen.

Siding with his mother after his parents' divorce, Massey rarely saw his father through most of his adult life; however, they were cast as father and son in The Queen's Guards (1961).

Massey was married three times, two of his wives being well-known actresses:

• Adrienne Corri (1961–1967)
• Penelope Wilton (1975–1984); one daughter, Alice Massey
• Lindy Wilton (1984–1998) (Penelope's sister)

He died from Hodgkin's lymphoma aged 64 in London and was laid to rest at Putney Vale Cemetery.

Career

Massey made his film debut as a child in Noël Coward's flag-waver, In Which We Serve (1942) - Coward being his godfather. He would later play Noël Coward in the 1968 Julie Andrews vehicle, Star!, a performance for which he won a Golden Globe Award and received his sole Academy Award nomination. He first made a major impression as an adult as Laurence Olivier's son-in-law in the stage and screen versions of John Osbourne's The Entertainer. Massey appeared in numerous British films from the 1950s onwards, including Cromwell, The Cat and the Canary, The Jokers, The Vault of Horror, Mary, Queen of Scots, Victory, and In the Name of the Father.

Other highlights of his career were his stage roles, especially that of the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler in Ronald Harwood's Taking Sides; Massey won an Olivier Award for his performance. His other stage appearances included musicals such as She Loves Me, Gigi, and Stephen Sondheim's Follies, for which he won another Olivier Award. On television, highlights include The Crucible (1980 ) as Reverend Hale, The Golden Bowl (1972) as the Prince and his performance as an AIDS patient in Intimate Contact (1987).

Selected filmography

• Girls at Sea (1958)
• Operation Bullshine (1959)
• Upstairs and Downstairs (1959)
• The Entertainer (1960)
• Star! (1968)
• Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)

References

1. ^ BFI biodata

External links

Biography portal

• Daniel Massey (actor) at Find a Grave
• Daniel Massey at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Massey, Daniel
Alternative names	Massey, Daniel Raymond
Short description	Actor, Performer
Date of birth	1933-10-10
Place of birth	London, England
Date of death	1998-03-25
Place of death	London, England (Hodgkin's disease)