James Mason

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James Mason

from the trailer for the film Julius Caesar
Born James Neville Mason
15 May 1909(1909-05-15)
Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom
Died 27 July 1984 (aged 75)
Lausanne, Switzerland
Spouse(s) Pamela Mason (1941-1964)
Clarissa Kaye-Mason (1971-1984)

James Neville Mason (15 May 1909 – 27 July 1984) was a three-time Academy Award-nominated English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Mason was born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England to John and Mabel Mason; his father was a wealthy merchant. Mason had no formal training as an actor and initially embarked upon it as a lark. He studied architecture at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, where he got a first degree, but got involved in stock theatre companies in his spare time before joining the Old Vic theatre in London under the guidance of Tyrone Guthrie and Alexander Korda who gave Mason a small film role in 1933 but fired him a few days into shooting.

[edit] Career

From 1935 to 1948 he starred in many British quota quickies. A conscientious objector during World War II (something which caused his family to break with him for many years), he became immensely popular for his brooding anti-heroes in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, including The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. He also starred with Deborah Kerr and Robert Newton in 1942's Hatter's Castle. In 1949 he made his first Hollywood film, Caught, and then went on to star in many more feature films and early TV shows. Nominated three times for an Oscar, he never won one.

Mason's distinctive voice enabled him to play a menacing villain as greatly as his good looks assisted him as a leading man. His roles include the declining actor in the 1954 version of A Star Is Born, a mortally wounded Irish revolutionary in Odd Man Out (1946), Brutus in Julius Caesar (1953), General Erwin Rommel twice - in The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951), and in The Desert Rats (1953) - Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), a small town school teacher driven insane by the effects of Cortisone in Bigger Than Life (1956), a suave master spy in North by Northwest (1959), a determined explorer in Journey to the Center of the Earth (also 1959), Humbert Humbert in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), a hired assassin sent to kill Peter O'Toole and thereby prevent him from leading a peasant uprising in Lord Jim (1965), the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot (1979), and a surreal pirate-ship captain in Yellowbeard (1981). One of his last roles, that of corrupt lawyer James Concannon in The Verdict (1982), earned him his third and final Oscar nomination.

Mason was once considered to play James Bond in a 1958 TV adaptation of From Russia with Love, which was ultimately never produced. Despite being in his fifties, he was still under consideration to play Bond in Dr. No before Sean Connery was cast. He was also approached to appear as Bond villain Hugo Drax in Moonraker (1979), however, he turned this down despite his renowned tendency to take any job offered him -- which led to appearances in films such as The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go, Bloodline and Hunt the Man Down.

Throughout his career, Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry and he is now regarded as one of the finest film actors of the 20th century.

In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actor Sam Neill.

Late in life, he served as narrator for a British television series on the films of Charlie Chaplin, Unknown Chaplin, which was aired in the U.S. on PBS and later issued on home video.[1]

[edit] Private life

Mason was a devoted lover of animals, particularly cats. He and Pamela Kellino Mason co-authored the book The Cats in Our Lives, which was published in 1949. James Mason wrote most of the book and also illustrated it. In The Cats in Our Lives, he recounted humorous and sometimes touching tales of the cats (as well as a few dogs) he had known and loved. An episode of the old Burns and Allen radio show featured Gracie Allen's attempts to impress new neighbor Mason by pretending to have cats of her own.

Mason was married twice:

  • British-American actress Pamela Mason (née Ostrer) (1941-1965); one daughter, the late Portland Mason Schuyler (1948-2004), and one son, Morgan (who is married to Belinda Carlisle, the former lead singer of The Go-Go's). Portland Mason was named after Portland Hoffa, the wife of the American film comedian Fred Allen; the Allens and the Masons were friends.
  • Australian actress Clarissa Kaye (1971-his death)

Mason's autobiography, Before I Forget, was published in 1981.

[edit] Death

Mason survived a major heart attack in 1959 and died as a result of another on July 27, 1984 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was cremated, and (after a delay of 16 years) his ashes were buried in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. The remains of his old friend Charlie Chaplin are in a tomb a few steps away. James Mason Court, a road in the Marsh area of Huddersfield, is named after him.

[edit] References in popular culture

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  • In 1991, Kelsey Grammer spoofed Mason as Captain Nemo in a skit while hosting Saturday Night Live. During the skit Nemo had to try to explain various units of nautical measurements while fighting off a giant squid.
  • For his audition for Saturday Night Live in 2005, Bill Hader gave an impersonation as Mason at a donut store trying to redeem an expired coupon.
  • British comedian Eddie Izzard often deliberately uses a James Mason impression as his standard "voice of God" in his standup routines.
  • In the film Broadway Danny Rose, one of the comedians in the Carnegie Deli remarks that he was trying, years before, to develop a British accent and wound up with a James Mason impression, an event that led him to become an impressionist.
  • On Freedy Johnston's 1994 album "This Perfect World", the song "Dolores" features the line "...I look like James Mason's ghost..."
  • On the DVD audio commentary of British Comedy The Mighty Boosh series two episode, "The Nightmare of Milky Joe" comedians Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt perform an impression of James Mason's voice. In early days of The Mighty Boosh, Rich Fulcher and Noel Fielding performed "duelling Masons" in the Hen and Chickens in Highbury, London. They also joke about Mason's clean-shaven appearance, quipping "You must shave twice a day" while both doing impressions of him. (This may also be in reference to a line from "Lolita" in which Mason's character specifically mentions having to shave twice a day")
  • In the Jack Mckinney Robotech novelizations, when Zentraedi commander Khyron was seen for the first time by humans, during his holding of Minmei hostage, someone noted that "he talks like that sixties actor, James Mason". This is very evident in the animated show on which the novels are based where his voice was performed by actor Greg Snegoff.
  • In their 60's radio show "Pop Go The Beatles", when the host was introducing the song, John Lennon suggested "Why don't you do it in your famous James Mason impersonation voice?"
  • His voice served as the inspiration for the Monkey Pick Ass joke on 93.3 WMMR Philadelphia's Preston and Steve morning show.
  • In Blackadder III, in the episode 'Amy and Amiability', the voice affected by elusive highwayman 'The Shadow' is clearly that of James Mason, a reference to The Wicked Lady, since The Shadow is later revealed to be a woman.
  • British tv comedy show Fonejacker uses a picture of Mason to represent the character of the The Flat Line respresentative.
  • In the novel "Olympos (novel)" by Dan Simmons, Tom Hockenberry - one of the main characters - comments that another character's (Asteague/Che's) voice is very similar to that of James Mason, later described as "Smooth but businesslike." (Pages 95, 454 of the Paperback)

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ amazon.com

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Mason, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mason, James Neville
SHORT DESCRIPTION actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1984
PLACE OF DEATH Lausanne, Switzerland