William LeMassena

William LeMassena (May 23, 1916 – January 19, 1993) was an American actor born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the son of Margery L. (1883–1942) and William Henry LeMassena (1874–1944). He graduated from New York University and built a career spanning Broadway, film, and television that lasted more than four decades. He is particularly associated with his stage work, his appearance in the 1979 film All That Jazz, and his long-running role on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns.

LeMassena made his Broadway debut in 1940 in a production of The Taming of the Shrew starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. That introduction to the Lunts led to his becoming a regular presence in their informal repertory company, which included actors such as Sydney Greenstreet, Thomas Gomez, and Montgomery Clift. Through that association he appeared in There Shall Be No Night and Mexican Mural. His Broadway career continued through 1988 and encompassed productions including Blithe Spirit, The Night of the Iguana, All Over, A Texas Trilogy: The Oldest Living Graduate, and Postcards. He also appeared in Broadway's first all-nude play, Grin and Bare It, in 1970, which closed within three weeks of opening, and later had a long run in Deathtrap. In the later portion of his stage career, LeMassena also completed several seasons of regional work at Meadowbrook Theatre in Rochester, Michigan.

On screen, LeMassena played the Heavenly Friend who guides Gordon MacRae's character back to Earth in the 1956 film adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. He later appeared in All That Jazz in 1979. During the 1960s he was a recurring presence on the Hallmark Hall of Fame, contributing to several television adaptations of stage plays. In a 1960 production of Shakespeare's The Tempest — featuring Maurice Evans, Lee Remick, Roddy McDowall, and Richard Burton — he played Antonio. In a 1967 production of Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, which marked Geneviève Bujold's American television debut in the title role, LeMassena appeared as Jean d'Estivet. He also took the role of Rudolfo in a television production of the operetta Naughty Marietta. From 1985 to 1992 he played Ambrose Bingham on As the World Turns.

LeMassena served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946. During the early 1940s he and Montgomery Clift, his colleague from There Shall Be No Night, were in a relationship that lasted approximately three years. The relationship ended when LeMassena left to serve overseas. LeMassena died of lung cancer at his home in New Suffolk, New York on January 19, 1993, at the age of 76.