Marsha Mason | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mason in 2018 | |
| Born | (1942-04-03)April 3, 1942 |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, director |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouses | |
Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and theatre director. She has been nominated four times for theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her performances inCinderella Liberty (1973),The Goodbye Girl (1977),Chapter Two (1979), andOnly When I Laugh (1981). The first two also won herGolden Globe Awards. She was married for 10 years (1973–1983) to the playwright and screenwriterNeil Simon, who wrote all but the first film cited above, in addition to several others in which she starred.
Mason's film debut was in the 1966 filmHot Rod Hullabaloo. Her other films includeBlume in Love (1973),The Cheap Detective (1978),Max Dugan Returns (1983),Heartbreak Ridge (1986),Stella (1990) andDrop Dead Fred (1991). On television, she appeared in the soap operaLove of Life (1971–72) and received aPrimetime Emmy Award nomination for her recurring role on thesitcomFrasier (1997–98).
She has also had an extensive career on stage, making herBroadway debut as a replacement in the comedyCactus Flower in 1968. She starred in a 1999 revival ofThe Prisoner of Second Avenue in London, and received aGrammy nomination forBest Comedy Album for the 2000 recording. In 2006, she starred in the American premiere production ofHecuba at theChicago Shakespeare Theater. Her other Broadway credits includeThe Night of the Iguana (1996),Steel Magnolias (2005), andImpressionism (2009).
Mason guest starred inMadam Secretary (2015–16) andThe Good Wife (2016), and has had recurring roles on theABC sitcomThe Middle from 2010 to 2017 and theNetflix seriesGrace and Frankie since 2016.
After seeing her 1973 film debut inBlume in Love,Neil Simon cast Mason in his Broadway playThe Good Doctor.[1] Shortly afterwards, Mason and Simon, a widower, fell in love and got married. That same year, Mason co-starred oppositeJames Caan in the 20th Century Fox filmCinderella Liberty, which netted her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In 1977, Mason's performance in Simon's smash hit film,The Goodbye Girl, won her a second Best Actress Academy Award nomination. In 1979, Simon successfully cast Mason as Jennie MacLaine in the screen adaptation of his hit playChapter Two, which was based on Mason's relationship with Simon up to their marriage. The film proved to be another big hit, garnering her a third Oscar nomination for Best Actress.[citation needed]
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In 1981, Mason starred along withKristy McNichol,James Coco, andJoan Hackett inOnly When I Laugh, Simon's film adaptation of his Broadway comedy-dramaThe Gingerbread Lady; it was another box-office success. For her performance as Georgia Hines, Mason was highly praised and earned a fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination.[citation needed]
Mason'sMax Dugan Returns (1983), also written by Simon, grossed a modest $17.6 million at the box office. Despite a stellar cast led by Mason,Donald Sutherland,Jason Robards andMatthew Broderick, the film was a slow starter, becoming more popular after premiering on cable TV andVHS. By this time, Mason and Simon had divorced, and her film career lost momentum. She co-starred withClint Eastwood in the 1986 filmHeartbreak Ridge, which was fairly well received and a commercial success. Mason also played a supporting role in the 1990 motion pictureStella starringBette Midler, a remake of the 1937 filmStella Dallas.[citation needed]
Mason played in a New York production ofHarold Pinter'sOld Times. She next directed the playJuno's Swans (1986), by E. Katherine Kerr, at the Second Stage Theatre in Los Angeles.[2]
Her stage credits includeNorman Mailer'sThe Deer Park,Israel Horovitz'sThe Indian Wants the Bronx, Neil Simon'sThe Good Doctor andJoseph Papp's 1974Richard III at theLincoln Center.[3] Mason starred onBroadway in a revival ofNight of the Iguana in 1996, and the following year inMichael Cristofer'sAmazing Grace. Mason reunited withGoodbye Girl co-starRichard Dreyfuss and writer Neil Simon in Duncan Weldon andEmanuel Azenberg's production ofThe Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1999, which was performed at the L.A. Theatre Works shortly after a revival in London's West End. She earned a Grammy nomination in comedy.[4]
She appeared inCharles L. Mee'sWintertime at the Second Stage theatre in New York. In August 2005 Mason starred asHecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and on Broadway inSteel Magnolias, withDelta Burke,Frances Sternhagen,Rebecca Gayheart,Lily Rabe andChristine Ebersole. She appeared inA Feminine Ending atPlaywrights Horizons, and in the Shakespeare Theater Company's performance ofAll's Well That Ends Well inWashington, D.C.[5] Recently, she starred inLillian Hellman'sWatch on the Rhine at Arena Stage in Washington, DC and off-Broadway in the Irish Repertory Theatre's production of "Little Gem" which earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Play.[citation needed]
Mason's television work includes guest roles onSeinfeld,Lipstick Jungle, andArmy Wives. Mason starred in her own series,Sibs, which ran from 1991 to 1992. In 1997 and 1998, she had a recurring role on the TV showFrasier as Sherry Dempsey, Martin Crane's flamboyant girlfriend. She received a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. In February 2010, she co-starred inCalifornia Suite at theSkirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.[6]
Mason playedPatricia Heaton's mother in the ABC comedy seriesThe Middle[7] from 2010 to its conclusion in 2018. Other recent TV roles have included "Grace & Frankie", "Madam Secretary" and "The Good Wife".
In April 2010, Mason co-starred withKeir Dullea andMatt Servitto in anOff-Broadway production ofI Never Sang for My Father.[8] For her performance as Margaret Garrison, Mason received good reviews.[9][10]
During the Pandemic, she appeared in zoom productions ofDear Liar withBrian Cox for Bucks County Playhouse and opposite Richard Dreyfus in "The Letters of Noel Coward" for Bay Street Playhouse in Sag Harbor, NY.
As a director, Mason has helmed productions of Neil Simon'sChapter Two andRobert Harling'sSteel Magnolias at the Bucks County Playhouse; the first female version ofAn Act of God withPaige Davis at Arizona Theatre Company;Juno Stories for Second Stage in NYC; the world premiere ofTennessee Williams'Talisman Roses withAmanda Plummer for the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown, Mass.;[11] and a benefit production ofThe Man Who Came To Dinner starringWalter Bobbie andBrooke Shields for Bucks County Playhouse. Marsha was Associate Director withJack O'Brien for the Roundabout Theatre's production ofAll My Sons on Broadway. In 2022, she starred in and co-directed Neil Simon'sLost in Yonkers at Hartford Stage.
Mason has a star on theSt. Louis Walk of Fame.[12]
She has taught atHB Studio[13] (Herbert Berghof Studio) in New York City.[14]
Mason was born inSt. Louis,Missouri, on April 3, 1942, to Jacqueline Helena (Rakowski) and James Joseph Mason, a printer.[15][16] She and her younger sister, Linda, were raised Catholic and grew up inCrestwood. Mason is a graduate ofNerinx Hall High School andWebster University, both inWebster Groves. While at Webster, she performed in a variety of theatrical productions.[17] She raced aMazda RX-3 inSCCA events.
Mason was married to actor Gary Campbell from 1965 until they divorced in 1970. Her second marriage, to playwrightNeil Simon, lasted from 1973 until their 1983 divorce.[citation needed]
A former long-time resident ofNew Mexico, Mason had a farm[18] inAbiquiu that grew certified organic herbs. In the late 1990s, Mason sold herbs wholesale to companies both locally and regionally before starting a line of wellness and bath and body products called "Resting in the River". Now based inNew York City, in 2018 she completed building a home on a hayfield inLitchfield County, Connecticut, where she currently resides.[19][20] Mason has frequently visited Eastern countries likeIndia for many decades and has been a practitioner ofTranscendental Meditation since 1970.[21]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Hot Rod Hullabaloo | ||
| 1968 | Beyond the Law | Marcia Stillwell | |
| 1973 | Blume in Love | Arlene | |
| Cinderella Liberty | Maggie Paul | ||
| 1974 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Roxane | |
| 1977 | Audrey Rose | Janice Templeton | |
| The Goodbye Girl | Paula McFadden | ||
| 1978 | The Cheap Detective | Georgia Merkle | |
| 1979 | Promises in the Dark | Dr. Alexandra Kendall | |
| Chapter Two | Jennie MacLaine | ||
| 1981 | Only When I Laugh | Georgia Hines | |
| 1983 | Max Dugan Returns | Nora McPhee | |
| 1986 | Heartbreak Ridge | Aggie | |
| 1990 | Stella | Janice Morrison | |
| 1991 | Drop Dead Fred | Polly Cronin | |
| 1994 | I Love Trouble | Sen. Gayle Robbins | |
| 1995 | Nick of Time | Gov. Eleanor Grant | |
| 1996 | 2 Days in the Valley | Audrey Hopper | |
| 2004 | Bride and Prejudice | Catherine Darcy | |
| Bereft | Helen | ||
| 2013 | Across Grace Alley | Grandmother | Short |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Dark Shadows | Audrey / Vampire Girl | "1.915" |
| 1971 | Where the Heart Is | Laura Blackburn | TV series |
| 1971–1972 | Love of Life | Judith Cole | TV series |
| 1972 | Young Dr. Kildare | Nurse Lord | "I'm Handling It", "The Stranger" |
| 1974 | Great Performances | Roxane | "Cyrano de Bergerac" |
| 1982 | Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal | Lois Gibbs | TV film |
| 1985 | Surviving | Lois | TV film |
| 1986 | Trapped in Silence | Jennifer Hubbell | TV film |
| 1988 | Hothouse | Courtney Woods | "The Actress" |
| 1989 | Dinner at Eight | Millicent Jordan | TV film |
| 1990 | The Image | Jean Cromwell | TV film |
| 1991–1992 | Sibs | Nora Ruscio | Main role |
| 1992 | Seinfeld | Jennie MacLaine (voice) | "The Letter" |
| 1993 | One Life to Live | Sabrina | 1 episode |
| 1995 | Broken Trust | Ruth | TV film |
| 1997–1998 | Frasier | Sherry Dempsey | Recurring role (6 episodes) |
| 1999 | Restless Spirits | Lydia | TV film |
| 2001 | Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows | Ethel Gumm | TV miniseries |
| 2002 | The Education of Max Bickford | Lilith Bigelow | "The Egg and I" |
| 2004 | The Long Shot | Mary Lou O'Brian | TV film |
| 2006 | Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King | Aunt Trudy | "The Road Virus Heads North" |
| 2008 | Lipstick Jungle | Lorraine Lipman | "Carpe Threesome" |
| Army Wives | Charlotte Meade | "Mothers & Wives", "Great Expectations" | |
| 2010–2017 | The Middle | Pat Spence | Recurring guest (11 episodes) |
| 2013 | Untitled Bounty Hunter Project | Lucille Ryan | TV film |
| 2015–2016 | Madam Secretary | Dr. Kinsey Sherman | "The Kill List", "Connection Lost" |
| 2016 | The Good Wife | Judge Louisa Page | "Tracks" |
| 2021–2022 | Around the Sun (audio drama) | Marge | Voice; 3 episodes |
| 2016–2022 | Grace and Frankie | Arlene | Recurring guest (8 episodes) |
