Daniel Massey (actor)

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

Biography

Personal life

Massey was born in London. He was educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. An enormously famous stage and screen star, he was of course, a member of the noted Massey family: his father, Raymond Massey, his sister, Anna Massey and his uncle Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada. His mother was the actress Adrianne Allen.

Massey was married four 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 disease aged 64 in London, England and was laid to rest at Putney Vale Cemetery.

Career

Massey made his film debut as a child in Noel Coward's flag-waver, In Which We Serve (1942) -- Coward being his godfather. He would later play Noel 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. Massey appeared in numerous British films from the 1950s onwards,Other highlights of his career were his stage roles, especially that of the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler in Ronald Harewood's "Taking Sides" Massey won an Olivier Award for his perfomance.. Interestingly, Raymond Massey and he were cast as father and son in 1961's The Queen's Guards. He also made many stage appearances, notably in musicals such as She Loves Me, Gigi, and Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

External links

• Daniel Massey at the Internet Movie Database