ACTOR
James Mason
47 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (47)
- #001
While remodelling his house in 1952, James Mason discovered several reels of Buster Keaton's lost films (Mason had bought Keaton's Hollywood mansion) and immediately recognised their historical importance and his responsibility to preserve them.
- #002
James Mason reportedly once saved the life of Max Bygraves's son Anthony. Max Bygraves and Anthony were at a party at Judy Garland's house when Anthony fell into the pool and Max did not notice; Mason spotted it, jumped fully clothed into the water and pulled Anthony out.
- #003
At Liza Minnelli's request, James Mason read the eulogy at Judy Garland's funeral.
- #004
James Mason refused to wear make-up.
- #005
Eleven years after being described as a perfect villain in Rope (1948), James Mason was finally cast in that way by Alfred Hitchcock in North by Northwest (1959).
- #006
James Mason was responsible for casting an unknown actor from New Zealand in his first major film role: Sam Neill.
- #007
In the late 1970s James Mason told Playboy magazine that he hated rock'n'roll but loved country music.
- #008
James Mason admitted to journalists that he took his role in Mandingo (1975) only because his alimony payments were overdue, prompting critic Roger Ebert to respond that "prison would definitely have been better".
- #009
James Mason lived with his future wife Pamela Kellino and her husband Roy, and Kellino continued to live with them even after Mason married her.
- #010
An avowed pacifist, James Mason refused military service during the Second World War, a stance that caused his family to cut ties with him for many years.
- #011
James Mason suffered a severe heart attack in 1959.
- #012
James Mason was the first choice to play Professor Kingsfield in The Paper Chase (1973) but had to turn the role down because of poor health. John Houseman, who had only played a small part in one film, was cast instead and won the Oscar.
- #013
Critic Vincent Canby said of James Mason: "He is one of the few screen actors worth watching even when the film surrounding him is as solid as this."
- #014
James Mason turned down the role of Hugo Drax in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979), which went to Michael Lonsdale.
- #015
In a Life magazine article dated 6 January 1947, James Mason claimed he preferred jazz and Duke Ellington to classical music and that his favourite stars were Spencer Tracy, Jean Gabin, Lena Horne, Carmen Miranda and Veronica Lake.
- #016
James Mason and his wife Pamela were cat lovers and collaborated on a book about their cats.
- #017
The role of Viktor Komarovsky in Doctor Zhivago (1965) was offered by double-Oscar-winning director David Lean to James Mason after Marlon Brando failed to answer Lean's written question about whether he wanted to play the part. Mason initially accepted. Because Lean did not want an actor who would overshadow the character of Yuri Zhivago, he settled on Mason, a generation older than Brando (in particular, to present Zhivago as the lover of Lara, played by the young Julie Christie, the charismatic Brando might have shifted the audience's sympathies). Mason eventually withdrew and Rod Steiger, who won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for the title role of The Pawnbroker (1964), accepted the part.
- #018
James Mason appeared in three Oscar Best Picture nominees: Julius Caesar (1953), Heaven Can Wait (1978) and The Verdict (1982).
- #019
James Mason was to have made his screen debut in Douglas Fairbanks's last film, The Private Life of Don Juan (1934), but was replaced after four days because of allegedly unsuitable casting.
- #020
James Mason appeared alongside his wife Clarissa Kaye-Mason in the original Salem's Lot (1979). They had also appeared together in The Age of Consent (1969).
- #021
Eddie Izzard frequently uses a James Mason impression in his stand-up comedy routines as the voice of a confused, indecisive God.
- #022
On 8 February 1960, James Mason was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6821 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- #023
Although he was never given the knighthood he deserved, he was awarded the Gold Seal, Britain's most prestigious film award.
- #024
After his death, James Mason was buried in the Corvey-Sur-Vevey Cemetery in Corvey-Sur-Vevey, Switzerland.
- #025
James Mason was born in Huddersfield, England, and lived for a time in the United States and then in Switzerland, near the Italian border.
- #026
James Mason appeared in four films directed by Sidney Lumet: The Deadly Affair (1967), The Sea Gull (1968), Child's Play (1972) and The Verdict (1982).
- #027
In June 1967, he became the second actor to be awarded by the National Theatre for his services to cinema (the first was Sophia Loren in 1965).
- #028
Mason's daughter Portland was named after the wife of comedian Fred Allen.
- #029
His tribunal exempted him from military service during the Second World War solely on the grounds that he was obliged to do only non-combat work, which he refused. When he was granted a general exemption for his film work, his objection to it became moot.
- #030
James Mason was considered for the role of Harry Lime in the television series The Third Man (1959), but Michael Rennie took the part.
- #031
James Mason was the father of Morgan Mason and the actor/screenwriter Portland Mason.
- #032
James and Pamela Mason arrived in the United States in November 1946, but the actor became embroiled in a legal battle with David E. Rose, who claimed he had agreed to form a production company with him. After eighteen months, Mason finally won the case.
- #033
The actor James Mason was the grandfather of James Duke Mason.
- #034
James Mason was the father-in-law of Belinda Carlisle, lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, who is married to his son Morgan Mason.
- #035
James Mason managed to create uncanny impressions of John Gielgud and Gabriel Pascal.
- #036
Bigger Than Life (1956) was in many respects his film: besides starring in it, he produced it and contributed to the screenplay.
- #037
A memorial service for James Mason was held on 1 November 1984 at St. Paul's Church in Covent Garden.
- #038
According to his autobiography, he was the first choice to play Norman Maine in A Star Is Born (1954), after Bogart turned the role down.
- #039
James Mason turned down the role in I Know Where I'm Going! when he was told he would have to live under harsh conditions in Scotland. The role was then given to Roger Livesey.
- #040
James Mason was cast as the presiding judge in Three Sovereigns For Sarah (1985) but died before filming began. Patrick McGoohan stepped into the role shortly afterward.
- #041
Although Mason's son Morgan Mason is a film producer, he worked at the Ronald Reagan White House.
- #042
In his autobiography, Mason reveals that he preferred the French dub of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), feeling that the harsh intonations of the French actors suited both his own performance and Kirk Douglas's better.
- #043
According to his autobiography, in the early 1960s Mason planned to launch a second acting career under the name 'Enoch Gates', imagining he would work mainly in westerns. However, a meticulous journalist recognized Mason in his Gates disguise and was greatly surprised. In the end, Mason appeared as Enoch Gates only once, in the Stoney Burke (1962) episode titled 'The Scavenger'.
- #044
James Mason should not be confused with the American actor Jim Mason (1889-1959), also known as James Mason, who appeared in silent films in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in Westerns.
- #045
Over a 50-year film career, James Mason appeared in more than 130 films.
- #046
James Mason died of a heart attack in 1984 at the age of 75.
- #047
Ironically, although Mason did not serve in the British army during the Second World War because of his pacifist beliefs, in the cult war classic CROSS OF IRON (1977) he twice portrayed the legendary German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as well as a senior Colonel serving on the Eastern Front.
Continue through the archive
A Star Is Bornas Norman Maine
Bigger Than Lifeas Ed Avery- The Verdictas Ed Concannon
- The Boys from Brazilas Eduard Seibert
- Evil Under the Sunas Odell Gardener
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Seaas Captain Nemo
- The Last of Sheilaas Philip
- Cross of Ironas Oberst (Col.) Brandt
- The Deadly Affairas Charles Dobbs
- Journey to the Center of the Earthas Sir Oliver S. Lindenbrook
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