Biography

September 1, 1952 · Kansas City, Missouri, USA

October 20, 2016 · Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer)

Michael Groo Massee

1.80 m

Pale blue eyes

Involved in the shooting accident on the set of The Crow (1994) that resulted in the death of Brandon Lee. In character, and as scripted, he discharged a gun at Lee during a scene, unaware that the gun had been improperly prepared with a live round. Though he was in no way at fault, he was so devastated over the incident that he took a year-long sabbatical from acting.

Grew up in France after family moved there in 1954. His father Jack wanted to pursue a career as a writer but in 1955 he got a job with UNESCO, which is headquartered in Paris, because he had "a family to feed" as he used to put it. He worked at Unesco as an educational planner until he retired. After which he shared his time between Paris and Corsica.

Was fluent in French.

He appeared in four super-hero films adapted from HQ's: The Crow (1994), Catwoman (2004), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its sequel The Amazing Spider-Man : Le Destin d'un héros (2014). Also appeared in one episode of Batman (2004).

Massee never saw The Crow (1994). He refused to watch it to the end of his life.

[on the accidental shooting of Brandon Lee] It absolutely wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't even supposed to be handling the gun until we started shooting the scene and the director changed it.

I just took a year off and I went back to New York and didn't do anything. I didn't work. What happened to Brandon Lee was a tragic accident and I don't think you ever get over something like that.

[on the tragic death of Brandon Lee on the set of The Crow (1994)] What happened to Brandon was a tragic accident. It's something I'm going to live with," Massee said. "It took me the time it took to be able to not so much put it in perspective but to be able to move on with my life .... It's very personal. It's something that I wanna make sure when I work that it's never repeated. Therefore, I'm very conscious of the possibility of things going awry on set.

[on Brandon Lee in ‘The Crow’] This was how Brandon was going to step out of his father’s shadow and you could tell from very early on that this was the role he was born to play. He was so agile; he moved like the wind. It was so beautiful to watch. With the birds flying around and his long hair, it was astounding.