JAMES MASON
Name: James Neville Mason
Born: 15 May 1909 Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom
Died: 27 July 1984 Lausanne, Switzerland
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.
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,
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.
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
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) and the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot (1979).
One of his last roles, that of a corrupt lawyer 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.
Name: James Neville Mason
Born: 15 May 1909 Huddersfield, England, United Kingdom
Died: 27 July 1984 Lausanne, Switzerland
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.
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,
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.
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
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) and the vampire's servant, Richard Straker, in Salem's Lot (1979).
One of his last roles, that of a corrupt lawyer 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.