58 Facts About James Mason

James Mason achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood.

James Mason was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards throughout his career.

James Mason was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included The Seventh Veil and The Wicked Lady.

James Mason starred in Odd Man Out, the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

James Mason was born on 15 May 1909 in Huddersfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the youngest of three sons of John James Mason and Mabel Hattersley, daughter of Joseph Shaw Gaunt.

James Mason was educated at Marlborough College and took a first in architecture at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he became involved in stock theatre companies in his spare time.

James Mason had no formal acting training, and initially embarked upon it for fun.

James Mason joined the Old Vic theatre in London under the guidance of Tyrone Guthrie.

From 1935 to 1938, James Mason starred in many British quota quickies, starting with his first film Late Extra, in which he played the lead.

James Mason appeared in Twice Branded ; Troubled Waters, directed by Parker; Prison Breaker ; Blind Man's Bluff, for Parker's The Secret of Stamboul, and The Mill on the Floss, an "A" movie.

James Mason had a key support role in Korda's Fire Over England with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

James Mason was in another "A", The High Command directed by Thorold Dickinson, then went back to quickies, starring in Catch As Catch Can, directed by Roy Kellino.

James Mason began appearing in some televised productions of plays, made in the very early days of television: Cyrano de Bergerac, The Moon in the Yellow River, Bees on the Boat-Deck, Square Pegs, L'Avare, and The Circle.

James Mason returned to features with I Met a Murderer based on a story by Mason and Pamela Kellino, who starred with Mason and whom he would marry.

James Mason registered as a conscientious objector during World War II, but his tribunal did not exempt him on the requirement for non-combatant military service, which he refused.

James Mason appealed against that aspect of the tribunal's decision, but it became irrelevant once he was included in a general exemption for film work.

James Mason established himself as a leading man in Britain in a series of films: The Patient Vanishes ; Hatter's Castle with Robert Newton and Deborah Kerr; The Night Has Eyes ; Alibi with Margaret Lockwood; Secret Mission ; Thunder Rock with Michael Redgrave; and The Bells Go Down with Tommy Trinder.

James Mason became hugely popular for his brooding anti-heroes, and occasional outright villains, in the Gainsborough series of melodramas of the 1940s, starting with The Man in Grey.

James Mason starred in two wartime dramas, They Met in the Dark and Candlelight in Algeria, then returned to Gainsborough melodrama with Fanny By Gaslight with Granger and Calvert; it was another big hit.

James Mason starred in Hotel Reserve, a thriller, then did a ghost story for Gainsborough with Lockwood, A Place of One's Own.

James Mason was the most popular male star in Canada in 1948.

James Mason had a relatively minor role in The Wicked Lady with Lockwood, a big hit.

James Mason then received his best reviews to date playing a mortally wounded IRA bank robber on the run in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out.

James Mason turned producer with Sydney Box on The Upturned Glass, which starred Mason with a script by Mason's wife.

James Mason went to Hollywood for his first film, Caught, directed by Max Ophuls, then played Gustave Flaubert in MGM's Madame Bovary.

James Mason did another with Ophuls, The Reckless Moment, and followed it with East Side, West Side with Barbara Stanwyck at MGM and One Way Street at Universal.

James Mason made Pandora and the Flying Dutchman with Ava Gardner.

James Mason did a film at Republic Pictures written by his wife and directed by Roy Kellino, Lady Possessed.

James Mason was in the lower budgeted Face to Face then went to Paramount to play a villainous sea captain opposite Alan Ladd in Botany Bay.

James Mason was one of many stars in MGM's The Story of Three Loves.

James Mason worked with Carol Reed in The Man Between, then Fox used him as a villain again in Prince Valiant.

James Mason did another film with a screenplay by his wife and directed by Roy Kellino, Charade.

James Mason took the role after Cary Grant turned the role down.

James Mason went over to Disney to play Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a huge hit which starred Kirk Douglas.

James Mason appeared with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Forever, Darling then starred in and produced a film at Fox, Bigger Than Life, directed by Nicholas Ray.

James Mason played a small-town school teacher driven insane by the effects of cortisone.

James Mason did another for Fox, the hugely popular melodrama, Island in the Sun.

James Mason did a comedy A Touch of Larceny and was Sir Edward Carson in The Trials of Oscar Wilde.

James Mason starred in Tiara Tahiti, then Hero's Island, which he produced.

In 1963 James Mason settled in Switzerland, and embarked on a transatlantic career.

In 1967, James Mason narrated the documentary The London Nobody Knows.

An ardent cinephile on top of his career interests, James Mason narrated two British documentary series supervised by Kevin Brownlow: Hollywood, on the silent cinema and Unknown Chaplin, devoted to out-take material from the films of Sir Charlie Chaplin.

James Mason had been a long-time neighbour and friend of the actor and director Charlie Chaplin.

James Mason was in several episodes of ITV Play of the Week and he had the lead in The Deadly Affair for Sidney Lumet ; and Stranger in the House.

James Mason had the star role in Spring and Port Wine.

James Mason supported Charles Bronson in Cold Sweat and Lee Van Cleef in Bad Man's River.

James Mason was one of many stars in The Last of Sheila and played the evil Doctor Polidori in Frankenstein: The True Story.

James Mason had support roles in The MacKintosh Man, 11 Harrowhouse, The Marseille Contract, and Great Expectations and was top billed in Mandingo.

James Mason was in North Sea Hijack, supporting Roger Moore, Evil Under the Sun, Ivanhoe, and A Dangerous Summer.

James Mason had parts in Yellowbeard, Alexandre, and George Washington.

James Mason did appear on television in AD and The Assisi Underground.

The 13-track spoken word album, James Mason Reads from the Bible was issued on York BYK 703 in 1971.

In 1952, James Mason purchased a house previously owned by Buster Keaton.

James Mason arranged to have the decomposing films transferred to safety stock, saving them from oblivion.

James Mason died as result of another heart attack on 27 July 1984 in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was cremated.

James Mason left his entire estate to his second wife, Clarissa Kaye, but his will was challenged by his two children.

Clarissa Kaye James Mason left her holdings to the religious guru Sathya Sai Baba, including the actor's ashes, which she had retained in their shared home.

James Mason's children sued Sai Baba and subsequently had James Mason's ashes interred in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland.