LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Raymond Massey: Abe Lincoln
built 277 days ago
Massey did not hold out much hope that he would get to reprise his role because, as he later explained, "In the twenties and thirties a stage actor was hardly ever chosen to repeat his role on the screen. Good plays were reserved for the many stars on contract. In trade papers and gossip columns, about the only star who was not mentioned as a probability for the screen Abe was W.C. Fields." But as it turned out, independent producer Max Gordon wound up with the film rights (for $250,000, a hefty sum in those days) and chose Massey to play the role. Massey was still performing on Broadway and agreed to do it with the assurance that he would rejoin the original Broadway cast for a touring production once shooting was over.
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Massey war der Sohn eines Fabrikbesitzers für landwirtschaftliche Maschinen. Für die kanadische Armee nahm er am Ersten Weltkrieg teil und wurde in Frankreich mehrfach verwundet. Bereits als Soldat machte er erste Bühnenerfahrungen, sollte allerdings zunächst nach dem Krieg für das väterliche Unternehmen arbeiten. Anfang der 1920er Jahre ging er nach England und trat 1922 in London erstmals auf einer Theaterbühne auf. In dieser Zeit hörte ihn der Sohn von Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln, und war verblüfft von der Ähnlichkeit Masseys Stimme zu der seines Vater. 1940 sollte er dann auch tatsächlich die Rolle von Abraham Lincoln übernehmen.
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Massey's performance conveys the wit and charisma of Lincoln, but the film suffers from gross historical inaccuracies and the melodramatic approach of director John Cromwell. In the supporting role, Gene Lockhart gives a broad interpretation as Stephen A. Douglas, and critics at the time ... faulted Ruth Gordon for her aggressive interpretation of the doom-haunted Mrs. Lincoln.
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Abe Lincoln