James Neville Mason (/ˈmeɪsən/; 15 May 1909 – 27 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for threeAcademy Awards, threeGolden Globes (winning once) and twoBAFTA Awards throughout his career.
Mason was born on 15 May 1909 inHuddersfield, in theWest Riding of Yorkshire, the youngest of three sons of John Mason and Mabel Hattersley, daughter of Joseph Shaw Gaunt.[1][2] A wealthy wool merchant like his father, John Mason travelled often on business, mainly in France and Belgium. Mabel—who was "uncommonly well-educated" and had lived in London to study and begin work as an artist before returning toYorkshire to care for her father—was "attentive and loving" in raising her sons.[3]
The Masons lived in a house in its own grounds on Croft House Lane inMarsh. It was replaced in the mid-1970s by flats called Arncliffe Court. A small residential development opposite where the house once stood is now called James Mason Court.
Mason began appearing in some televised productions of plays, made in the very early days of television:Cyrano de Bergerac (1938),The Moon in the Yellow River (1938),Bees on the Boat-Deck (1939),Square Pegs (1939),L'Avare (1939), andThe Circle (1939). He returned to features withI Met a Murderer (1939) based on a story by Mason and Pamela Kellino, who also starred with Mason and whom he would marry. Her husband Roy Kellino directed.
Sydney Box cast Mason in a psychodrama about musicians,The Seventh Veil (1945), as the tyrannical guardian of pianistAnn Todd. It was a huge success in Britain and the US and demand for Mason was at a fever pitch. Exhibitors voted him the most popular star inBritain in each year between 1944 and 1947. They also declared him the most popular international star in 1946; he dropped to second place the following year.[14][15] He was the most popular male star in Canada in 1948.[16]
Mason was one of many stars in MGM'sThe Story of Three Loves (1953). At Fox, he reprised his role as Rommel inThe Desert Rats (1953), then he was reunited with Mankiewicz at MGM, playing Brutus inJulius Caesar (1953), oppositeMarlon Brando. The film was very successful. Mason worked with Carol Reed inThe Man Between (1953), then Fox used him as a villain again inPrince Valiant (1954). Mason did another film with a screenplay by his wife and directed by Roy Kellino,Charade (1954).
He played a happily-married college professor asked to father a child by a Swedish visitor inThe Marriage-Go-Round (1961), then played Lolita's sexually obsessive stepfather Humbert Humbert inStanley Kubrick'sLolita (1962), receivingBAFTA andGolden Globe nominations. He starred inTiara Tahiti (1962) andHero's Island (1962), which he also produced. He starred as an Italian submarine captain inTorpedo Bay (1963).
In 1967, Mason narrated the documentaryThe London Nobody Knows. An ardent cinephile on top of his career interests, Mason narrated two British documentary series supervised byKevin Brownlow:Hollywood (1980), on the silent cinema andUnknown Chaplin (1983), devoted to out-take material from the films of SirCharlie Chaplin. Mason had been a long-time neighbor and friend of the actor and director Charlie Chaplin. In the late 1970s, Mason became a mentor to up-and-coming actorSam Neill.[24]
James Mason recorded an album forYork Records. The 13-track spoken word album,James Mason Reads from the Bible was issued on York BYK 703 in 1971.[27][28]
Mason and his family in 1957 in the television programmePanic!. From left: son Morgan, Mason's wife Pamela, daughter Portland and Mason.
Mason was a devoted lover of animals, particularly cats. He and his wife,Pamela Mason, co-authored the bookThe Cats in Our Lives, which was published in 1949. James wrote most of the book and also illustrated it. InThe 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.
In 1952, Mason purchased a house previously owned byBuster Keaton. There he discovered reels ofnitrate film of some of Keaton's work that was consideredlost, includingThe Boat (1921). He arranged to have the decomposing films transferred tosafety stock, saving them from oblivion.[29]
From 1941 to 1964 to British actressPamela Mason (née Ostrer) (1916–1996). They had one daughter,Portland Mason Schuyler (1948–2004), and one son,Morgan (who is married toBelinda Carlisle, the lead singer ofthe Go-Go's). Pamela Mason filed suit for divorce in 1962 for lack of support, claiming adultery on his part with three Jane Does.[31] According to their son Morgan and other sources, Pamela herself had had numerous affairs, but due to her attorneyMarvin Mitchelson's skill, she won a monetary settlement of at least $1 million ($9.275 million today) when the marriage was finally dissolved in 1964; it was reported as "America's first million-dollar divorce".[32][33] As a result of this success, Mitchelson became a sought-after celebrity divorce attorney.[34]
Australian actressClarissa Kaye (1971 – his death). Tobe Hooper's DVD commentary forSalem's Lot reveals that Mason regularly included contractual clauses in his later work guaranteeing Kaye bit parts in his films.
Mason's autobiography,Before I Forget, was published in 1981.
Mason survived a severe heart attack in 1959.[35] He died as result of another heart attack on 27 July 1984 inLausanne, Switzerland,[36] and wascremated. Mason left his entire estate to his second wife, Clarissa Kaye, but his will was challenged by his two children. The lawsuit had not been settled when she died on 21 July 1994 from cancer.[37]
Clarissa Kaye Mason left her holdings to the religious guruSathya Sai Baba, including the actor's ashes, which she had retained in their shared home. Mason's children sued Sai Baba and had Mason's ashes interred inCorsier-sur-Vevey,Vaud, Switzerland.[38] The remains of Mason's friend Charlie Chaplin are in a tomb a few steps away.[38] Mason's children specified that his headstone read: "Never say in grief you are sorry he's gone. Rather, say in thankfulness you are grateful he was here", words that were spoken to Portland Mason by U.S. SenatorTed Kennedy after the actor's death.[39]
^Eric Ambler,Mason, James Neville (1909–1984), rev.Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
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