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James Mason broke into British films in 1935 after a few years working on the stage. For the rest of the decade, he alternated unsuccessful theatre ventures with increasingly important movies. Though he was a conscientious objector, he became one of the most popular British actors of the World War II era. He moved to Hollywood after the war and made 34 films between 1949 and 1962. Though success initially eluded him, he worked with some of the leading directors of the time and eventually won an Academy Award nomination for A Star is Born (1954). He worked steadily in the years that followed, appearing in nearly 50 feature films from 1963 until his death in 1984. While many of these films wer...
Sarah Thomas's study moves beyond the image of the brooding, destructive man at odds with employers and his own star status to explore the complexity of Mason's career and star persona. Her analysis is structured around three strands central to understanding stardom: the star persona, industry and power, and screen performance. Thomas addresses the incredible range of Mason's star career – 1930s 'quota quickies'; 1940s Gainsborough melodramas; the desperate IRA man in Carol Reed's 'Odd Man Out' (1947); from the 1950s onwards, Hollywood classics including starring in Hitchcock's 'North by Northwest' (1959) and playing Humbert Humbert in Kubrick's 'Lolita' (1962). She also considers in depth his undervalued post-1962 career, off-screen celebrity status, non-film work, comic and vocal performances, and the star's own self-commentary. In doing so, she offers a new perspective on such subjects as power and powerlessness; public image and national identity, contextualizing Mason's career in wider histories of British, American and European transnational filmmaking.
Author Diana de Rosso enjoyed a close friendship with the actor James Mason throughout his life. Drawing on her own experience and interviews with those who knew him, including Alec Guinness, Margaret Lockwood, Deborah Kerr and many other actors, directors and writers, Diana de Rosso lets us into the real life of a truly great Englishman.
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Few men are prominent chess players as well as esteemed chess writers. James Mason, in his lifetime, had the reputation of being both. This book chronicles Mason's early career in the United States, providing many details on his writings and annotations for The Spirit of the Times and The American Chess Journal, his participation in the Cafe Europa and Cafe International tournaments, his win in 1876's Fourth American Chess Congress, and his matches against chess greats like George H. Mackenzie, Eugene Delmar, Dion M. Martinez, Edward Alberoni, and Henry E. Bird. Mason's efforts to establish an American Chess Association and to arrange an international centennial congress in 1876 are also explored. In addition to the general index, the work also includes indexes of games, annotators, and openings.
'Incredibly good-looking, in a dark way ... that curious quality of a man with an eternal secret. ... That was what was so arresting. ... That and the voice.' Geraldine Fitzgerald The reason for watching a James Mason film, as the film critic Pauline Kael once noted, was usually only James Mason himself. Mason was actually pointed toward a career in architecture before acting overtook him during his third year at Cambridge. He went on to make an indelible impression playing emotionally haunted characters on stage and screen, such as one early stand-out role, Johnny McQueen in Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947). Mason and his first wife, Pamela, arrived in the United States in the late forties, ...
"The 1860s and 1870s were a golden time for chess journalism in the United States...a particularly nice touch is the reproduction of drawings of several chess clubs of the day...a first rate effort that will be fascinating reading for anyone interested in chess in 19th century America...a first-class productions effort with high quality paper and library binding...recommended"—IM John Donaldson (JeremySilman.com) "Invaluable...excellent"—Manchester Chess Federation "Invaluable"—The Compulsive Reader "Exceptionally good"—ChessCafe.com "Beautifully bound and printed. Flows like a novel, very much a 21st century book on a 19th century topic!"—British Chess Magazine "A rich look at the...
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