James Mason
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 15, 1909
- Died
- Jul 27, 1984 (aged 75)
- Place of birth
- Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, UK
- Credits
- 185
James Neville Mason (known as James Mason; May 15, 1909 – July 27, 1984) was an English actor who made a significant impact on both British and American cinema. His acting career began in the 1930s, where he initially gained recognition for his stage performances in London's West End. He made his film debut in 1935 with the British film "Late Extra," marking the start of his illustrious on-screen journey.
Throughout his career, Mason showcased his exceptional acting abilities, often portraying complex and morally ambiguous characters. His commanding presence, distinctive voice, and versatile range allowed him to effortlessly transition between genres, from dramas to thrillers and even period pieces.
One of Mason's most acclaimed performances came in 1945 when he starred as the troubled and enigmatic Johnny McQueen in the film "Odd Man Out." His portrayal of the wounded Irish nationalist earned him widespread praise and established him as a respected leading man.
Mason's notable filmography includes memorable roles in films such as "The Wicked Lady" (1945), "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" (1951), "A Star Is Born" (1954), "North by Northwest" (1959), and "Lolita" (1962). His ability to bring depth, sophistication, and complexity to his characters captivated audiences and garnered critical acclaim.
Beyond his film career, Mason also dabbled in producing and directing. He co-produced and starred in the acclaimed film "A Star Is Born," showcasing his multifaceted talent and creative vision.
Throughout his life, Mason was recognized with numerous awards and nominations, including three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. He was highly regarded by his peers and critics alike for his impeccable craft and his ability to elevate any production he was a part of.
Known for
North by Northwest
1959Movie
Phillip Vandamm
Lolita
1962Movie
Prof. Humbert Humbert
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954Movie
Captain Nemo
The Verdict
1982Movie
Ed Concannon
Jesus of Nazareth
1977TV
Joseph of Arimathea
Salem's Lot
1979TV
Richard K. Straker
Filmography
Kubrick by Kubrick
2020Movie
Self (archive footage)
Sid & Judy
2019Movie
Self (archive footage)
Churchill and the Movie Mogul
2019Movie
Self (archive footage)
Talking Pictures
2013TV
Self (archive footage)
Lasseter's Bones
2012Movie
Archival Footage
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1950s: The Golden Era of the Musical
2009Movie
Self (archive)
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
2000Movie
Self (archive footage)
Roger Moore: A Matter of Class
1995Movie
Self (archive footage)
Halloween Monster Bash
1991Movie
Stephen Deremid (archive footage)
The Assisi Underground
1985Movie
Bishop Nicolini
A.D.
1985TV
Tiberius
The Shooting Party
1985Movie
Sir Randolph Nettleby
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
1984Movie
Dr. Fischer
George Washington
1984TV
Gen. Edward Braddock
James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate
1984Movie
Self
House Without Foundation
1984Movie
Self - Narrator
Don't Eat the Pictures: Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1983Movie
Demon
Yellowbeard
1983Movie
Captain Hughes
Group Madness
1983Movie
Self
Unknown Chaplin
1983TV
Narrator (voice)
Alexandre
1983Movie
The Father
The Popes and Their Art
1983Movie
Presentor
The Verdict
1982Movie
Ed Concannon
A Dangerous Summer
1982Movie
George Engels
The Glory of the Garden
1982Movie
Narrator
Night of 100 Stars
1982Movie
Self
Evil Under the Sun
1982Movie
Odell Gardener
Ivanhoe
1982Movie
Isaac of York
The Making of Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun'
1982Movie
Self / Odell Gardener
The Search for Alexander the Great
1981TV
Narrator
North Sea Hijack
1980Movie
Admiral Brindsen
Hollywood
1980TV
Self - Narrator
Salem's Lot
1979TV
Richard K. Straker
Bloodline
1979Movie
Sir Alec Nichols
The Passage
1979Movie
Professor Bergson
Murder by Decree
1979Movie
Dr. Watson
The Boys from Brazil
1978Movie
Eduard Seibert
Heaven Can Wait
1978Movie
Mr. Jordan
The Water Babies
1978Movie
Mr. Grimes / Voice of Killer Shark
Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love
1977Movie
Narrator - English version
Jesus of Nazareth
1977TV
Joseph of Arimathea
Cross of Iron
1977Movie
Oberst Brandt
Voyage of the Damned
1976Movie
Dr. Juan Remos
Origins of the Mafia
1976TV
Vianisi
People of the Wind
1976Movie
Jafar Qoli (voice)
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976Movie
(archive footage)
Fear in the City
1976Movie
Chief of Police
The Flower in His Mouth
1975Movie
Avv. Antonio Bellocampo
Inside Out
1975Movie
Ernst Furben
Autobiography of a Princess
1975Movie
Cyril Sahib
The Left Hand of the Law
1975Movie
Senatore Leandri
Kidnap Syndicate
1975Movie
Filippini
Mandingo
1975Movie
Warren Maxwell
The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go
1974Movie
Y.Y. Go
11 Harrowhouse
1974Movie
Charles D. Watts
Frankenstein: The True Story
1974Movie
Dr. John Polidori
The Marseille Contract
1974Movie
Jacques Brizard
Great Expectations
1974Movie
Magwitch
Frankenstein: The True Story
1973TV
Dr. John Polidori
The MacKintosh Man
1973Movie
Sir George Wheeler
The Last of Sheila
1973Movie
Philip Dexter
The Reformation: Age of Revolt
1973Movie
Narrator
John Keats: His Life and Death
1973Movie
Narrator
Child's Play
1972Movie
Jerome Malley
Home, James
1972Movie
Self
The Wind in the Wires
1972Movie
Narrator
Kill!
1971Movie
Alan Hamilton
Appointment With Destiny
1971TV
Narrator
Film '72
1971TV
Self
Bad Man's River
1971Movie
Francisco Paco Montero
The Search for the Nile
1971TV
Narrator
V.I.P. Schaukel
1971TV
Self
Cold Sweat
1970Movie
Captain Ross
Spring and Port Wine
1970Movie
Rafe Crompton
Age of Consent
1969Movie
Bradley Morahan
The Sea Gull
1968Movie
Trigorin
The London Nobody Knows
1968Movie
Himself - Narrator
Mayerling
1968Movie
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Duffy
1968Movie
Charles Calvert
Apropos Film
1967TV
Self
Stranger in the House
1967Movie
John Sawyer
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
1967TV
Self
The Deadly Affair
1967Movie
Charles Dobbs
ABC Stage 67
1966TV
Otto Hoffman
Georgy Girl
1966Movie
James Leamington
The Blue Max
1966Movie
General Count von Klugermann
Uncertain Verification
1965Movie
(archive footage)
The Uninhibited
1965Movie
Pascal Regnier
Genghis Khan
1965Movie
Kam Ling
Lord Jim
1965Movie
Gentleman Brown
The Pumpkin Eater
1964Movie
Bob Conway
The Fall of the Roman Empire
1964Movie
Timonides
Torpedo Bay
1963Movie
Captain Blayne
The Merv Griffin Show
1962TV
Self
Stoney Burke
1962TV
The Derelict
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962TV
Self
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962TV
Warren Barrow
Hero's Island
1962Movie
Jacob Weber
Tiara Tahiti
1962Movie
Captain Brett Aimsley
Lolita
1962Movie
Prof. Humbert Humbert
Escape from Zahrain
1962Movie
Johnson
Theatre 62: Rebecca
1962Movie
Maxim de Winter
The Mike Douglas Show
1961TV
Self
Dr. Kildare
1961TV
Dr. Maxwell Becker
The Marriage-Go-Round
1961Movie
Paul Delville
John Brown's Raid
1960Movie
John Brown
The Trials of Oscar Wilde
1960Movie
Edward Carson
Playhouse 90: The Hiding Place
1960Movie
Hans Frick
A Touch of Larceny
1960Movie
Cmdr. Max Easton
Journey to the Center of the Earth
1959Movie
Sir Oliver S. Lindenbrook
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
1959TV
Henry Chambers
North by Northwest
1959Movie
Phillip Vandamm
The Decks Ran Red
1958Movie
Capt. Edwin Rummill
Cry Terror!
1958Movie
Jim Molner
The Thundering Wave
1957Movie
Sidney Lowe
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
1957TV
Self
Island in the Sun
1957Movie
Maxwell Fleury
Panic!
1957TV
Bigger Than Life
1956Movie
Ed Avery
The Steve Allen Show
1956TV
Self - Guest
Forever, Darling
1956Movie
Guardian Angel
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954Movie
Captain Nemo
The Star of Bethlehem
1954Movie
Himself
A Star Is Born
1954Movie
Norman Maine
Prince Valiant
1954Movie
Sir Brack
The Tell-Tale Heart
1953Movie
Narrator
The Man Between
1953Movie
Ivo Kern
Charade
1953Movie
The Murderer / Maj. Linden / Jonah Watson
Julius Caesar
1953Movie
Brutus
The Desert Rats
1953Movie
Field Marshal Erwin von Rommel
The Story of Three Loves
1953Movie
Charles Coutray
General Electric Theater
1953TV
Wayne Sebastian
Botany Bay
1952Movie
Capt. Paul Gilbert
The Prisoner of Zenda
1952Movie
Rupert of Hentzau
Face to Face
1952Movie
The Captain
Ellis in Freedomland
1952Movie
The Refrigerator (voice)
5 Fingers
1952Movie
Ulysses Diello
Lady Possessed
1952Movie
Jimmy Del Palma
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1951Movie
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951TV
Captain Vialez, Self - Host
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
1951Movie
Hendrick van der Zee
Lux Video Theatre
1950TV
Self - Host
The Bob Hope Show
1950TV
Self
One Way Street
1950Movie
Dr. Frank Matson
What's My Line?
1950TV
Self
East Side, West Side
1949Movie
Brandon Bourne
The Reckless Moment
1949Movie
Martin Donnelly
Madame Bovary
1949Movie
Gustave Flaubert
Caught
1949Movie
Larry Quinada
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948TV
Self
The Upturned Glass
1947Movie
Michael Joyce
Odd Man Out
1947Movie
Johnny McQueen
The Wicked Lady
1945Movie
Captain Jerry Jackson
The Seventh Veil
1945Movie
Nicholas Cunningham
They Were Sisters
1945Movie
Geoffrey Lee
A Place of One's Own
1945Movie
Henry Smedhurst
Hotel Reserve
1944Movie
Peter Vadassy
Fanny by Gaslight
1944Movie
Lord Manderstoke
Candlelight in Algeria
1944Movie
Alan Thurston
They Met in the Dark
1943Movie
Richard Francis Heritage
The Man in Grey
1943Movie
Lord Rohan
The Bells Go Down
1943Movie
Ted Robbins
Thunder Rock
1942Movie
Streeter
Secret Mission
1942Movie
Raoul de Carnot
Alibi
1942Movie
Andre Laurent
The Night Has Eyes
1942Movie
Stephen Deremid
Hatter's Castle
1942Movie
Dr. Renwick
The Patient Vanishes
1941Movie
Mick Cardby
The Circle
1939Movie
Edward Luton
The Miser
1939Movie
Valere - In love with Elise
I Met a Murderer
1939Movie
Mark Warrow
Bees on the Boat-Deck
1939Movie
Robert Patch
The Moon in the Yellow River
1938Movie
Darrell Blake
Cyrano de Bergerac
1938Movie
Christian de Neuvillette
Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel
1937Movie
Jean Tallien
The High Command
1937Movie
Capt. Heverell
Catch as Catch Can
1937Movie
Robert Leyland
Fire Over England
1937Movie
Hillary Vane
The Mill on the Floss
1937Movie
Tom Tulliver
The Secret of Stamboul
1936Movie
Larry
Twice Branded
1936Movie
Henry Hamilton
Blind Man's Bluff
1936Movie
Stephen Neville
Troubled Waters
1936Movie
John Merriman
Prison Breaker
1936Movie
'Bunny' Barnes
Late Extra
1935Movie
Jim Martin