Mason, James (1909-1984), versatile British actor, born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and educated at the University of Cambridge. Mason worked on stage from 1931 onward and appeared on screen for the first time in Late Extra (1935).

Given Mason's romantic good looks and his strong personality it is surprising that at the time producers saw him only as a supporting actor or a weak hero—until, that is, he played the evil title role in The Man in Grey (1943), a Regency melodrama that also made stars of Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert, and Stewart Granger. Mason became Britain's leading male actor virtually overnight, and another stylish essay in villainy, in The Seventh Veil (1945), extended his popularity to the United States.

Mason considered Odd Man Out (1947) by Carol Reed his finest film. Once in Hollywood, he sought scripts of comparable quality, but, as he himself admitted, he sometimes chose badly. The few first-class films he made in his years as a bankable star included The Desert Fox (1951), in which he played Field Marshal Rommel; Five Fingers (1952) and Julius Caesar (1953), both by Joseph Mankiewicz; and A Star is Born (1954) with Judy Garland, by George Cukor.

A billing, playing a villain, below Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959) by Alfred Hitchcock was the beginning of the end for Mason, although he rebounded in Lolita (1962) by Stanley Kubrick. Until his death, he worked almost ceaselessly, either as the star of forgettable films or in supporting roles in better ones. He was invariably considered the best thing in them. His autobiography, Before I Forget, was published in 1981.